Chilean avocado sendings to the UK are increasing and the season is expanding with retailers offering price promotions even on added value lines this week.
International reports on the sector in Chile suggest that production is likely to increase further before it levels off in a few years time as a large number of hectares are being planted and some of the newer orchards have yet to enter their most productive stage.
According to the reports, the increase in dedicated land use to avocados is due to success in exports in the past.
But these salad days for the product may be about to change as prices this season in the key export market of the US have weakened for the first time.
Nevertheless, the main export variety remains Hass which is favoured in both the US - which takes more than 90 per cent of Chilean avocado sendings - and the UK.
Planted area is concentrated in the centre of Chile from region IV through to region VI including the Metropolitan region around Santiago. Acreage has expanded at the rate of 1,200ha a year over the past four years to 24,500ha. Hass represents 75 per cent of plantings, although more than 20 other types are also in production.
Chile's avocado exports total some 118,000 tonnes, almost two-thirds of the total crop.
Exports to the UK have been increasing significantly and this year they were almost double 2003 levels. The picture is similar in France.
Chile has purposefully been developing these markets as Mexico gains increased access to the US market for its avocados, which were banned for decades in the last century. Once Mexican growers gain full access to all states for their fruit, competition for Chile will be much stronger.
No comments yet