The Israeli avocado season is due to start on schedule towards the end of this month or into early October, according to major exporter Agrexco.

Ettinger is the first variety to come on stream and the fruit will be available until December. “The quality is looking good, although quantities won’t be as large as last year,” said Eitan Zvi, Agrexco UK sales manager. “But customers will not be disappointed in the taste.”

Hass is expected to come on stream by mid-Novermber, more or less at the same time as Fuerte. Smaller volumes of Pinkerton, Nabal and Ardith will also be exported towards the end of the season, next spring. “It will be a short season as far as volume is concerned for Haas,” said Zvi. “We had such a fantastic year in 2004 that, naturally, this year the yield will not be as big, but we will be handling the variety up until the end of March. We are expecting good sales and good prices for great avocados.”

Growers in Israel are working hard on improving yields and investing in increased plantings. “We are developing new plantations with the aim of improving our systems to pick 45 tonnes per hectare eventually,” said Zvi. “The avocado tree only starts bearing fruit five years after planting, providing 15t a hectare. After seven to eight years this increases to 30t. We are now experimenting in netting our orchards, not only will this help control the temperature, but it will also allow us to control the height of the trees which in turn should give us a better yield.”

Agrexco UK forecasts this season some 95 per cent of Hass will be destined for the multiples with green-skinned fruit in general preferred by the catering sector.

All Israeli avos are sea-freighted into Marseilles then trucked through Europe to reach end consumers a week after harvest.

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