The Chilean Hass Avocado Association (CHAA) has announced a healthy crop forecast for the forthcoming season, which may see the largest volumes of Hass avocados ever shipped from the country.
According to the association, which represents the vast majority of planted areas for Hass avocados in Chile, production of between 240,000 and 260,000 tonnes of avocados is expected during the country’s 2009-10 window.
Exporters predict 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.
Customers in the UK can expect to have at least 6,000t of Hass avocados available to them during the season.
Adolfo Ochagavía, president of the CHAA, said: “We are expecting excellent volumes of Chilean Hass avocados for the 2009-10 season as the result of groves recovering from the effects of severe unseasonable frosts we experienced two years ago, and also a significant acreage of new plantings coming on stream this year.
“Since 2005, we have focused on expanding the British market for Chilean Hass with excellent quality fruit and a strong marketing and PR effort. We will be supporting this year’s plentiful crop by developing our successful campaign to promote Hass avocados to British consumers, with the goal of increasing volume and frequency of purchases among existing shoppers and encouraging new consumers into the category. We will continue to tackle misconceptions about avocados, highlight their versatility and great taste, and this year, will be addressing the challenges presented to us by the economic downturn.”
The product will be supported by a considerable marketing campaign peaking in Avocado Week from October 19 to 25. Thomasina Miers, television 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 Chilean campaign will be supported by a UK website for the first time. Chile shares the site with ProHass, which launched a campaign to promote Hass avocados from Peru during the summer this year.
