It’s been a tough season for avocado growers but Asian markets are showing huge growth with potential for more.

An oversupply of Australian-grown avocados into the Australian market means Kiwi growers are oversupplying their own domestic market this year.

In December growers were advised by industry body NZ Avocado to hold fruit on the trees and delay the supply until market conditions improve. Fruit can be held for up to six months on the trees.

NZ Avocado chief executive Jen Scoular says the Australian market made up 80 per cent of exports.

“They had a very low production the year before and the regions that harvest at the same time as the NZ crop, they had three times as much volume as the year before.

“Our exporters recognised that they couldn’t push more supply into markets that weren’t able to take it. If they don’t have the flow-through you can’t just keep supplying avocados.”

She says there has been a lot of planning over the six-month season with many growers doing three picks instead of two.

“They don’t store in cool stores, they store on the tree so definitely a lower percentage of the crop was harvested pre-Christmas just to see if we can get a better return for growers.”

Prices are still low but there is still about another three months left in the season.

Covid crunch

The wild card in the local industry at the moment is the huge supply disruptions in the Australian market at present with the wholesale avocado market “devastated” by staff shortages.

“There are further supply chain disruptions because the workers in the distribution centres in wholesale markets are not able to get to work because they have Covid or they are close contacts.”

The good news

The shining light for growers is the rapid growth in Asian markets.

Last season, New Zealand growers sent 600,000 trays into Asia and this year that is set to be almost 1.6 million trays.

“The exporters are absolutely building markets and it has been a long-term aim to increase our volumes into Asia.

“This is not the optimal way of doing it - being forced into doing it - but it has meant there are lots of new market channels that have been opened this year.”

And there is still a big upside to the Asian market. On average people in Japan eat just two avocados each, per year and that figure is thought to be lower in China.

“There is a lot of potential still and there is still lots of wonderful hype about the amazing health attributes of avocados.

“The markets that we do have access to, which is most of them, there remains a lot of opportunity.

“It is making everyone recognise that we have had some glorious years from a return perspective and we are now getting back to more realistic levels.”

Productivity the key

She says the strong message for growers is that they need to focus on getting good productivity from their orchards in order to be economically viable.

“Basically now, growers are focusing on next season.

“We have got another crop on the trees and we are really just about irrigating. If they have irrigation or just caring for the soil around the trees if they don’t have irrigation because it is a very long, dry hot period that we are having.”