Spain’s avocado sector has experienced one of its strongest export campaigns for several years, with sales of the Hass and green-skinned varieties increasing by 34 per cent compared with the previous season.
Some 70 per cent of Spanish avocado production is concentrated in the southern coastal province of Malaga, where growers ended the 2010/11 campaign with a total production of 64,425 tonnes, an increase of 37 per cent from the 40,200 tonnes of the season before.
According to regional association Asaja Málaga, the total turnover achieved by the sector during the season also rose sharply, reaching €72m compared with €42m during the 2009/10 campaign.
Citing data from the World Association of Avocado Producers, Asaja Málaga said that some 46,386 tonnes of avocados were exported from Spain between September 2010 and June 2011, of which 35,940 were of the Hass variety and 10,896 were green-skinned avocados.
The association said the results showed a 34 per cent rise in total exports compared with the previous campaign, to primarily France, the UK and Germany.
Asaja Murcia’s head of fresh produce, Benjamín Faulí, said: “It has been a fantastic result, with the Malaga sector yet again demonstrating its excellent organisation and the position it holds in external markets.
“The increase in production and exports was fundamentally due to having a very good harvest in our country and a slight drop in exports to Europe from other countries, where weather problems affected production.”
