Avoco sets sights on Asian consumers

Singapore consumers keen to try avocados at recent event with NZ Avocado ambassador Nadia Lim. Photo / Supplied

Education and promotion in Asian markets is the key to driving avocado sales as growers face the challenge of marketing a record crop, says exporter Avoco.

The national crop estimate for the 2014/15 season is more than 7 million trays, with an expectation of a record 4.5 million plus trays being exported. New Zealand's previous high was a 6.2 million trays total crop in 2011/12. Last season, 3.1 million trays of avocados were exported.

Avoco director John Carroll said avocados were still a new food to many Asian consumers. Exporters, faced with the challenge of selling record quantities of fruit, were taking every opportunity to educate people on their versatility and health benefits and developing new consumer interest across Asia is critical to the marketing strategy.

Harvesting for this season got under way in late August and, as at October 10, more than 25 per cent of Avoco growers' crops have been picked and 918,000 export trays have been shipped. The bulk of Avoco's fruit is sent to Australia, a market that this year is also being well supplied by high volumes coming out of West Australian orchards. To avoid oversupplying the market and devaluing the price of avocados, about 37 per cent of Avoco's exports are being sent to developing Asian markets and the US.

Mr Carroll said poor weather had hampered harvesting at the start of the season, but growers and packers were now consistently hitting their weekly targets for export.

Asian countries, such as Singapore, are considered growth markets for the sector.

This season, Singapore will receive about 160,000 export trays, a 128 per cent increase on volumes for 2013-14. Similarly, Thailand is being sent double the amount of fruit this season, with 80,000 trays being shipped under Controlled Atmosphere technology.

This is the first season CA had been adopted so extensively by avocado exporters, said Avoco director Alistair Young, who added it meant avocados could travel long distances and arrive in top condition.

"Avanza staff have travelled to check the quality of our shipments after they arrive in Asia and the US, and everyone's happy with how the fruit has travelled so far," he said.

"We'll keep a human presence in the US throughout the season to maintain customer confidence. We are determined to ensure the plans put in place before the start of the season are executed successfully and New Zealand fruit is well regarded."

Avanza is more than halfway through its packing schedule for the US, with up to 50,000 export trays heading there every week.

Avoco's first week of supermarket sales started in Australia this month and Mr Carroll said sales were pleasing with strong volumes at healthy prices.

Avocadoes
Avoco is the trademark of the New Zealand Avocado Company, formed by leading exporters Bay of Plenty-based Southern Produce and Auckland-based Primor Produce. Avoco is also the biggest component in the Avanza export marketing channel, which exports to markets outside Australia.