Peruvian avocado volumes increase while Africa faces quality problems

Volumes arriving from Peru are increasing due to the delays that coastal producers had been reporting, which have been partly affected by the need to postpone harvesting to allow for larger fruit sizes. Volumes from South Africa are being impacted by the ship omissions we've experienced in recent months, with several weeks where the shipping company omitted cargo only for volumes to double the following week. Regarding Kenya and Tanzania, the impact has been negative due to poor quality at the start of the season, resulting in the fruit not being as utilized as expected.

Regarding prices, we are experiencing a very atypical year in Europe, with prices up to three times higher than in previous years at the same time. This makes it even clearer that Peru's main competition in Europe for its avocado season is Peru itself. Given the initial projections for this origin, it was reasonable to expect prices to be higher than in a normal year, but the uncertainty surrounding the sizes that will make up the bulk of the containers leaving Peru is causing importers to speculate about potential shortages of certain sizes. Regarding this week's size shortages, operators observe that there is sufficient supply of large sizes, but not of medium and small sizes, where the supply is lower. As for the African origins, the major problem is the utilization of the fruit due to quality issues, which has not yet been consistent.

In terms of quality, the Peruvian harvest is progressing very well, with correct ripening, although there is significant variation in color due to heterogeneous dry matter. The African harvest, however, is showing poor quality and problems with blackening upon ripening, resulting in highly uneven utilization of the product across all distribution channels.

Carlos Ocaña, Product Manager , Avocado, Hermanos Fernandez, Spain