The Chilean Avocado Committee is to launch a PR and marketing campaign in the UK, to increase awareness of its product and raise consumption.
For the first time, there will also be co-operation between South African and Chilean exporters, as recent discussions about collaboration between growers around the globe to increase consumption begin to bear fruit.
“We have carried out generic promotion in other markets,” Juan Pablo Cerda of Cabilfrut told the Journal. “And we have been talking with our counterparts in South Africa, Spain, Mexico and Peru about working together in the UK and other European markets. This year will see the first stage of Chile and South Africa leading the way and hopefully in 2006 we will see even greater joint efforts.”
Production in Chile increased by 35 per cent to 135,000 tonnes last year and the industry is well on course to reach 150,000t for export before its stated 2008 target. Exports of Chilean avocados to Europe have soared this season - from 3.5m kilos to 11m kilos year on year, as a combination of reduced prices in the key US market and higher demand in Europe attracted more of the country’s Hass to the UK and the rest of the continent.
The weather problems in Spain mean that Chilean Hass is still being shipped. UK importers have bagged 700,000 cartons this season, more than 130 per cent above last season’s mark.
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