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Where is the price top for avocados?

7 Jul 2016

The price for avocados has dropped the past few weeks. The volumes from Peru are drastically decreasing. "The sale is quieter during the summer months anyway, but I expect that the end of August and throughout September it's going to be tricky. Closing the gap between two origins takes some creativity," says Evy van Gastel of Special Fruit.

shmuelsemeniuk via pixabay

She is visiting various avocado growers in Peru at the moment and talks about the avocado season. "The South African avocado season is at its end and Peru is halfway there. The harvest from Chile is expected to arrive in Europe at the end of September. Besides these three origins, there are some others, including Spain, Israel, Morocco, Kenya, Colombia, and Mexico. In South Africa, there are severe shortages, up to 40% less. The country had to deal with extreme droughts and a hailstorm in February in the region Tzaneen, which took the fruits of the trees due to the severity of the storm. Because of El Niño, Peru has a smaller harvest than expected. "There is less harvest per tree and the sizes are smaller."

Influence El Niño - negative in Peru, positive in Chile

She continues: "The weather phenomenon has caused high temperatures during the flowering of the trees, resulting in higher stress levels of the trees in Peru. The fruit developed less well than expected due to this. Because of the low dry matter content in the fruit, there was unequal ripening of the maturing cells." Not everywhere does the El Niño have a negative influence on production. "Chile had a good season last year and this year a positive impact of El Niño is expected. The first measurements of the dry matter content in Chile showed 18% already, so they are on schedule. The first shipping has been planned, the earliest somewhere half August."

Price of avocado more stable than mango

The prices are hard to predict. "The past few weeks there was a drop in prices, mostly the sizes 22-24 and the baby-Hass. South-Africa had more small sizes due to the drought this year, and these volumes overlap with Peru. This caused the drop in prices." Last year the avocado prices were quite stable. "There have been some changes, but the price of avocados is more stable in comparison with mangos. This year there were peaks in January and April due to the shortages."

Read the full article on Agri Africa.