UK consumers are growing increasingly fond of Hass and green-skinned avocados, not least because of the ongoing promotional activity surrounding the fruit from producing countries such as South Africa, Chile, Israel and, most recently, Peru.
Nevertheless, consumption is not what its could be and according to Peruvian Hass avocado producers’ association ProHass, 75 per cent of the UK population does not eat avocados. Representing an obvious opportunity and challenge for the avocado industry, the UK has been a target for some years and organisations such as the South African Avocado Information Service - run by PR agency Richmond Towers Communications - is now in its 14th year of grower-funded promotional activity.
Derek Donkin, chief executive of the South African Subtropical Growers’ Association and spokesperson for the country’s avocado campaign, says: “The presence of ‘summer avocados fresh from the South African sun’ in the UK market has again been supported by an intensive PR and in-store marketing campaign. Retailer activity has included campaigns with Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and Costco, and tactics have included tray talkers, tastings and demonstrations, online advertising, recipe leaflets in store and in packs, with an extremely successful in-pack A7 concertina recipe leaflet supported by on-pack stickers.”
The South African season for Hass runs from mid-May to September, with green-skinned avocados starting a month earlier in April and finishing at the same time in the autumn. The industry expects to export approximately 22 per cent of its 10 million carton crop to the UK this season.
This year, the South African avocado campaign has been supported with a competition prize for consumers to enter a draw to win one of two adventure holidays to South Africa for two people, courtesy of Intrepid Travel.
“Extensive media relations activity has also taken place since the start of the year, to educate food writers and influencers in the health benefits of summer avocados,” says Donkin. “Information packs were distributed in designer avocado cotton bags.
“The South African Avocado Information Service also produced a 24-page Add An Avo! booklet, with recipes, information and tips by qualified nutritionist and TV journalist Amanda Ursell. Amanda also carried out regional radio interviews in the middle of the season.”
So, when it comes to avocados, there has always been a pro-active approach to promotion and, this year, ProHass followed suit by launching the first-ever European marketing campaign for Peruvian Hass. The organisation launched the Deliciously Healthy Avocados campaign in the UK in April to support the increasing volumes of fruit from Peru available during the summer season. The start of the campaign coincided with the beginning of the Peruvian Hass season in May, which ends in September - mirroring South African production.
“We focused on the UK from the beginning of our peak supply window in June, with a combination of direct activity to promote at the point of sale, backed up with a PR campaign in the media,” explains Arturo Medina, general manager of ProHass. “There is 75 per cent of the population who do not eat avocados regularly to target here, plus opportunities to get existing consumers to eat more, so there is plenty of potential in this market.”
The Peruvian campaign champions the specific health benefits of avocados, as well as the taste and versatility of the Hass variety. The key messages of the campaign include the fact that half a medium avocado contains just 137 calories, 50 per cent less than a plain bagel, that gram for gram an avocado contains almost twice the amount of cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fat as salmon and that avocados contain 12.5 per cent more potassium than the sportsperson’s favourite, bananas.
The in-store element of the Peruvian promotion includes recipe leaflets with a ‘win a holiday to Peru competition’ in packs of Peruvian Hass, as well as advertising at the point of sale in major multiple retailers. A new website, www.deliciouslyhealthyavocados.co.uk was also introduced to support the campaign and has featured recipes using Hass avocados, photography and a media press pack.
Another long-running campaign has stepped up the pace this year and the Chilean Hass Avocado Association (CHAA) has worked with ProHass to produce the website, which covers both Peruvian and Chilean avocados. This is the first time that the Chilean campaign has had a consumer website.
“This year, we are very happy to be co-operating with the ProHass campaign, which aims to promote Hass during the summer season,” says Adolfo Ochagavía, president of the CHAA. “There is obviously competition between different countries of origin, however, there is also a huge latent market for avocados in Europe for us to develop, so by coming together to share certain elements of our campaign we create economies of scale, and co-ordinate our messages - and ultimately develop our markets at a faster pace.
“To complete the promotional circle and create a year-round campaign for avocados in the UK market, we would welcome the chance to work with a complementary campaign for Hass in the February-March window.”
The Chilean product will be supported by a considerable marketing campaign, peaking with Avocado Week from October 19 to 25. Thomasina Miers, TV chef and owner of London’s Wahaca restaurants, will front the Chilean campaign for the second year, developing recipes, taking part in radio interviews and the annual Avocado Brotherhood lunch.
In-store activity will include point-of-sale advertising, an on-pack promotion where customers can win up to 10 weeks’ grocery shopping and tasting events.
The Israeli avocado sector is also looking to up its presence in the UK marketplace and is succeeding, slowly but surely. The Israeli season runs from October to April and Agrexco will this season send a predicted 5,000 tonnes to the UK, compared with the 3,500t sent to the UK in the 2008-09 season.
“It would be good to target families with young children and also pregnant women as avocados are extremely healthy and a good source of folic acid,” says Oded Yacovson, general manager of Agrexco UK.
Seasonal changes
Israel is set to experience a bumper crop of avocados this year, which follows the year-on, year-off yield pattern that the trees experience. This means that the trees give a large crop one year followed by a smaller crop the next. “This coming [2009-10] season, starting in week 40, will be a year on so we will have far more fruit,” says Yacovson. “Fortunately, we had a good [2008-09] season, which meant reasonable returns to our growers.”
The avocado-growing areas in Israel are towards the north of the country, near Hadera, Emek Efar and Galilee. The hot, dry climate and good light levels in the country make for ideal growing conditions for the fruit. “It was a normal season and we went through without problems,” continues Yacovson. “This [2009-10] season, we will have enough green-skinned varieties and far more Hass. Also, there might be a shortage of the sizes needed in the UK as there is a huge demand for smaller sizes, mainly from France and Scandinavia.”
The South African avocado industry is on the other side of the yield pattern and this year saw a slightly lower yield than the season before. “In 2008, we had a bumper year with a record export crop of 12.8m 4kg cartons,” says Donkin. “It was expected, therefore, that the 2009 crop would be smaller.
“We are now in the last two weeks of our harvesting season. When we had six weeks left, we had exported approximately 8.5m cartons and we expect the final export figure to be very close to 10m cartons. The market has recovered well after the poor prices in late June and early July and it is expected that the market will remain strong for the remainder of the South African season.”
In South Africa, avocados are mostly grown along eastern escarpment of the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, roughly parallel to the Kruger National Park, as well as production areas in KwaZulu-Natal.
Avocado production takes place largely in poor rural areas with high rates of unemployment. Farms, packhouses and processing facilities provide much-needed employment. The industry has done well over the last seven or eight years and profits have been ploughed back into local rural economies, so that the industry has become important for rural stability.
In Peru, there are around 3,000 hectares of orchards producing Hass and this area is increasing. The orchards are young and capable of producing good-sized fruit, while stable daily temperatures and good sunlight levels in the country add to the quality of Peruvian product.
“Peru exported a total of 38,680t in 2008, a year-on-year increase of 29 per cent, of which approximately 12 per cent was exported to the UK,” says Medina. “In the long term, we are planning to increase the volume we ship to this country significantly.”
After recovering from the effects of severe unseasonable frosts in Chile two years ago and with the addition of new plantings coming on stream this year, Chilean Hass avocado production is expected to be between 240,000-260,000t during the 2009-10 window.
Exporters predict that they will ship 185,000t of Hass during the season, an increase on the 164,000t exported from Chile in 2006-07 - previously the largest volume shipped.
This means that at least 6,000t of Hass will be available in the UK during the season from September to December -the same time as competitor Spain’s short season, which begins in September and ends in November.
“[We have] the goal of increasing volume and frequency of purchases among existing shoppers and encouraging new consumers into the category,” Ochagavía says. “We will continue to tackle misconceptions about avocados, highlight their versatility and great taste and this year, we will be addressing the challenges presented to us by the economic downturn.”
Yacovson believes that Israel’s past season was successful as growers received reasonable returns, but maintains that there is still a lot pressure. “The situation and problems remain the same as it comes down to price,” he says. “Speaking on behalf of our growers in Israel, the exchange rate is crippling and survival is an issue.”
Donkin says that the UK marketplace can be more demanding than the remainder of Europe. “The UK is less lucrative than it was in the past due to the weakening of sterling relative to the euro,” he comments. “Nevertheless, the UK is still an important market for the South African industry, as supermarket programmes provide stability. That said, UK supermarkets generally place higher demands on growers in terms of on-farm certifications and audits. For example, much of the European market only requires growers to have a GlobalGAP certification, whereas UK multiples require additional accreditations such as British Retail Consortium certification, Tesco Nature’s Choice and Ethical Trading Audits. The cost of such accreditations is borne by the grower. Therefore, the producer has to derive additional longer-term financial benefit from supplying the UK.”
But the avocado industry continues to target the UK marketplace and the various producing-country organisations are looking at particular groups of UK consumers, as at the moment it is predominantly the upper income groups that buy avocados.
“Those that are interested in eating a variety of foods and those that are health conscious are the ones likely to pick up an avocado,” says Donkin. “And, of course, those who just eat avocados because they really enjoy them. There is a growing awareness of the need to eat healthily, so we expect the group of avocado buyers to continue growing.
“Mothers with young children are becoming increasingly aware of the health benefits of weaning babies on avocados, as the composition is similar to milk - and they can be spoon fed straight from the shell.”
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