Northland avocado growers hope Australian shortage will lift prices

Pickers busy mid-harvest at the Woods family avocado orchard in Maungakaramea southwest of Whangārei. Photo / Ross Woods

By Monique Steele - RNZ

Avocado growers say causes for optimism this season include a “kinder” spring and less-than-expected production from Australia.

Production volumes for the 2023/2024 season in Australia rose 30% on the year before to nearly 151,000 tonnes, according to Avocados Australia.

But some of those growers - mostly from Western Australia and Queensland - were facing low prices and struggling with high farm input costs.

Some reportedly abandoned their orchards because they were unprofitable.

Last season, bad weather in Aotearoa flooded the domestic market with lower-quality fruit, while Australia grew more of its own avocados, causing a glut and pushing down returns for growers.

The 2020/2021 season was a bumper one which saw the export crop value hit nearly $168 million which had only decreased since, down to $20m in 2023/2024, according to figures from industry group New Zealand Avocado.

New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Association vice-president Anna St George said last year New Zealand exported 1.3 million trays. This season, about half of the 6.8 million trays expected this season were headed abroad.

She said growers exported 1.3 million trays in the September quarter alone, 360,000 more trays than the same time in 2020 when exports spiked.

Now, they were 83% through picking because of higher demand this season, as Asian markets continued to grow, Australia suffered severe weather events this season and production from competitor Peru was down this year too, she said.

Ross Woods sending off avocados picked off his family avocado orchard in Maungakaramea southwest of Whangārei. Pickers are collecting about seven tonnes each day. Photo / Ross Woods

Ross Woods runs the 35-hectare family avocado orchard at Maungakaramea, southwest of Whangārei.

He and his team of about nine are mid-harvest and pulling in about seven tonnes of avocado daily, in addition to pruning, mowing and spraying tasks.

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The veterinary surgeon, who first planted avocado trees in 1998, said the weather this season had been much better than previous years.

“This season, generally, it’s been amazing. We’ve had lots of fine picking weather,” Woods said.

“By and large this year, it’s been a lot kinder than previous years.”

Woods exports his fruit through avocado marketer and exporter Avoco.

He said he felt optimistic about this season’s pricing - “mainly because of the shortages in Australia”.

“We’ve had fruit going this year to Canada, throughout Asia and quite a lot to Australia,” Woods said.

Kathy Woods at her family avocado orchard in Maungakaramea, southwest of Whangārei. Photo / Ross Woods

“Australia are having a shortage this year, so the pricing this year seems to be okay.”

They were waiting to see what the payout would be, but “cashflow isn’t huge at the moment”, so there would be no new plantings this year.

“We’re just trying to maintain the orchard and do the general health stuff while at the same time getting the crop off.”

There was some time to head down to the beach and relax in summer, but not until the end of January once the export season had finished, Woods said.

“Basically, February, March, we’ll put our feet up a bit... before March and April [and] more pruning. There’s always something to do.”

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