Australia's Avocado Production Overcapacity Targets Asian Markets

Inflation and the impact of the March floods this year, a variety of fruit and vegetable prices in Australia rose rapidly. But the avocado has come out of the opposite trend, the price all the way down to 1 Australian dollar / piece (about 4.68 yuan / piece), less than half of the average price of avocados in the past five years.

Rabobank (Rabobank) analyst Pia Piggott (Pia Piggott) said that this year, Australia's per capita avocado consumption will reach nearly 5 kg, an increase of 26% over last year. But even so, the avocado in Australia is still in greater supply than demand.

Rabobank expects Australian avocado production to increase by 40% to 173,000 tons by 2026. Last year, Australia exported about 3,100 tons of avocados, mainly to Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, accounting for 4 percent of its total production. As production grows, the primary issue for the Australian avocado industry is how to develop markets, which will lead to direct competition with Mexican and Peruvian producers who dominate the global market. At the same time, export congestion has been exacerbated by the fact that New Zealand once exported large quantities of avocados to Australia.

Five years ago, domestic demand for avocados in Australia was so strong that farmers were growing large quantities of avocados. Now, due to severe overcapacity, the Australian avocado industry is looking to the Asian market. John Tyas, president of Avocados Australia, said the avocado industry needs to break into larger markets such as Japan. Tyas added that negotiations with India are underway and there is also import demand from the UK. He also hopes that South Korea and China will open up their avocado markets to Australia.