The avocado season in Malaga is improving, but it is still far from recovering to pre-drought levels.

With 20% more volume than the previous year, the sector is celebrating a slight recovery, although it warns that profitability continues to be pressured by climatic, structural and market factors.

The avocado harvest in Malaga is entering its final phase with a 20% increase in tonnage compared to last year, although still below pre-drought levels. “The trees are still affected by accumulated water stress,” says Antonio Rodríguez, general secretary of COAG Malaga, who emphasizes that long-term recovery will depend on summer rainfall.

With the La Viñuela reservoir at 50% capacity, attention is now focused on the desalination plant as a structural solution to guarantee the agricultural future of the Axarquía region. “We cannot let our guard down,” warns Juan Antonio Reyes Gutiérrez, president of the Spanish Association of Avocado and Mango Marketers, emphasizing that the opportunity to ensure water supply is now. The Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, recently visited Trops—a cooperative that accounts for 40% of national production—where the urgent need for direct aid to promote generational renewal and the economic viability of farms was highlighted.

Málaga has 10,000 hectares of subtropical crops, mainly avocados and mangoes, but drought has hampered their expansion. Andalusia accounts for 75% of Spain's avocado-growing area, but national production represents only 10% of European consumption. In 2023, Spain exported avocados worth approximately €450 million, while imports exceeded €635 million, highlighting an unfavorable trade balance in a highly competitive global market sensitive to price fluctuations in Mexico and the United States.

Source: freshplaza.es