More than 12,000 hectares of land are devoted to South African avocado production, with volumes ranging between 85,000 tonnes and 100,000t each year. South Africa is one of the largest exporters of avocados in the world and the UK is a key market for the industry.
Green-skinned varieties came on stream in late March and early April and will continue until the end of August or the beginning of September. Hass, the preferred variety among UK consumers, is due to enter the marketplace in May and volumes will be available until September.
Initial reports from South Africa pegged exports between 40,000t and 42,000t. However, in the first few weeks of harvest, fruit quality has been good, resulting in a high percentage of export-quality fruit.
“We now estimate that the export crop will be between 42,000t and 44,000t and of this volume, approximately 20 per cent will be shipped to the UK,” says Derek Donkin, chief executive of the South African Avocado Growers’ Association (SAAGA).
Westfalia Marketing plans to handle five million cartons this season. “Growing conditions allowed for the setting of a very good Fuerte crop and feedback from the early production areas that have started picking is that the fruit is very clean, allowing high pack-outs of quality fruit,” explains a Westfalia South Africa spokesman. “The Hass crop in general is good and young plantings are contributing to better availability throughout the season.”
The producer says it has been very proactive in ensuring that fruit is only picked once it has reached the minimum picking maturity level and ripens well.
Paul Devlin, managing director of South African avocado producer and marketer HL Hall (International), is optimistic about new arrivals. “It should be a good season, although it could rest on the volumes coming from Peru as the country is anticipating a big increase,” he tells FPJ. “We’ll see what materialises, but there has been lots of dialogue between South African and Peruvian associations. We need to ensure a constant and even flow of avocados, without the peaks and troughs.”
HL Hall plans to increase its volumes from 1.5m 4kg boxes last year to 2m 4kg boxes this season.
Peru is one of South Africa’s main competitors and its avocado exports are set to jump 19 per cent to 57,500t this year, according to figures released by the Central Reserve Bank of Peru. Hass will account for the vast majority of volumes, coming in at 48,000t and Fuerte volumes are anticipated to reach 9,500t.
Peru produces avocados in the regions of Lima, La Libertad, Junín, Arequipa, Ayacucho and Ica. According to recent reports, the planted area devoted to avocados stands at 7,000ha and is set to double or even triple within the next five years.
Despite the rise in output, South African sources are not showing too much concern about Peruvian production this season. “South African suppliers understand the value of the UK market and will be making sure that their customers’ needs are met,” Donkin says. “I don’t think that South African shipments to the UK will be affected significantly.”
According to Westfalia, the feedback from Peru is that it has 50,000t of Hass this season. Peru recently gained access to the US market on condition that the country follows a cold sterilisation protocol.
Westfalia expects only moderate volumes to be sent through this channel in the mid- to late parts of the Peruvian season and insists it will maintain a steady supply of fruit to service programme commitments with its UK client base.
More pressing is the weakened sterling, as this has made the UK market less lucrative over the past few years.
“The strength of the rand relative to the sterling places pressure on returns to growers, but Westfalia Marketing will, however, continue to support its traditional channels in the UK,” says the firm.
Donkin says the UK remains an important market for South African avocados, as programmes with the UK multiples provide stability. “However, growers need to maintain good returns on their investment in orchards and some markets can be more profitable,” he adds.
Another major challenge facing South African growers is the “ever-increasing” requirements of UK multiples in terms of their own private food safety and good agricultural practice certifications, sources say.
According to Donkin, growers have to undergo multiple audits if they supply different supermarket chains in the UK, whereas in Europe, GlobalGAP is sufficient. “As these audits are all paid for by the grower, in addition to the time involved, they add a significant cost component to supplying the UK,” he adds.
The latest requirement of many UK supermarkets is ethical trading audits on farms and Donkin says that while it is important to ensure that fresh produce originates from farms where workers are fairly treated, supermarkets should not view ethical trading as an opportunity to each have their own code for purposes of differentiation. “A single code of practice for all supermarkets should be sufficient,” he says.
SAAGA hopes its 2010 UK market development plans, which include PR, in-store activity and for the first time advertising, will find favour among UK consumers.
“This year presents us with a unique opportunity with the world focusing on South Africa and the World Cup - there is already a huge media focus on South African produce and we intend to maximise this opportunity to grow the market for avocados, particularly among new consumers,” Donkin explains.
SAAGA aims to encourage UK consumers to adopt guacamole as the snack of choice for the World Cup, using South African avocados. “Guacamole is one of the easiest and most widely recognised dishes to make with avocados and we will be encouraging UK consumers to make their own for their World Cup parties,” Donkin says. “We have developed a raft of materials, including a simple step-by-step recipe that will be used in an advertising campaign, in-store activity and our PR campaign from May onwards.”
The firm has paid particular attention to changing consumer perception of the fat content of avocados and is working with UK nutritionist Amanda Ursell to convey this message. “We have also educated consumers about how to tell when an avocado is ripe and how to peel and prepare an avocado and the ways in which they can be used, particularly in summer dishes,” Donkin says, adding that a record level of coverage for avocados in the consumer media was achieved last year.
SAAGA will also focus on other key messages and will continue to educate consumers about the different varieties of avocados, including green-skinned fruit as well as Hass.
Efforts will also be maintained on support in store through the development of recipe literature, point-of-sale material and in-store sampling.
A slight increase in Fairtrade avocado production is forecast this season, in line with the rise in conventional volumes. Univeg has been involved in Fairtrade avocados since 2005 and works with a key grower in Levubu, in the Limpopo region. According to Rosemary Lalley, Univeg commercial Fairtrade manager, the UK remains a key market for producers.
However, with the ongoing economic challenges, sources say that Fairtrade avocados are unlikely to see a significant spike in demand this season.
“It is probably reasonable to say that sales of Fairtrade avocados will not rise this season, partly because some retailers have established their own Fairtrade-type initiatives, for example, the Waitrose Foundation,” says Donkin.
“Retailers remain receptive to Fairtrade products and are still looking to maximise sales, but there has been a rationalisation on product ranges to mirror the difficult economy,” says Lalley.
In addition, the number of certified Fairtrade avocado growers has not changed and current production remains greater than demand. Indeed, a certain percentage of Fairtrade avocados are sold as conventional products.
Fairtrade social premiums have enabled a number of ongoing community projects. These include a literacy programme and sewing projects for women, and the social premiums received by workers have enabled them to build a training centre, as well as purchase computers and sewing equipment.
The latter has allowed the women to make and sell clothes in the local community and farm workers are undertaking agricultural and food safety courses.
Meanwhile, exporters handling organic avocados say that there is still a good demand. However, there isn’t an abundant supply of organic avocados as production is not easy, says Donkin.
No new avocado varieties have come out of South Africa in the past few years, but Donkin says that selection and testing of new varieties is ongoing. “This process takes time because a new selection has to be tested for at least seven years before its performance can be assessed,” he adds.
The majority of South African avocados are produced in the north-eastern part of the country. Climatic conditions are generally sub-tropical, with summer temperatures reaching 35°C and mild winters, although frost and sub-zero temperatures are a risk in some areas. Most producers irrigate their orchards, but there are also a number of ‘dry land’ or non-irrigated orchards.
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