NZ avocados break into Asian market
TE PUKE: Produce company Seeka is working to export more avocados to Asia this season to minimise its reliance on Australia.
Australia is our biggest export market for avocados, but last season it had an oversupply of the fruit so bought less from New Zealand, pushing down prices for growers.
Seeka produces between 750,000 and a million trays of the fruit annually.
Company chief executive Michael Franks said the domestic season started about three weeks ago but exports were just getting started.
‘‘We’ve already had air freight go up to Thailand and we’ve got China starting this week and we will also export to South Korea and Japan. So for us pushing into Asia is an important buffer against increasing volumes in Australia.
‘‘We have good relationships with fruit handlers in Asia. In China we work with Halls which has 135 years in the country so they distribute a lot of our fruit.’’
Mr Franks said the quality of avocados this season was excellent but yields were likely to be down by about 20% — a normal fluctuation in the industry.
‘‘Last year was a poor year for returns for growers after four or five good years. Returns last year were at or below the cost of growing so we’re looking into the current year with a bit more hope and optimism because volumes in Australia look down.’’
Exporting more avocados to Asia will give Seeka more flexibility in its exports, he said.
‘‘Avocados are still a very new category to the Chinese market and to many markets in Asia so we have to build the category and build consumer understanding of the product because in Asia they are normally blended in smoothies and drinks. So it’s about consumers getting used to the idea of eating a fresh avocado as well.’’
Franks said Seeka’s trials of a new avocado variety which would see the fruit on shelves for longer were going well. It is licensed to grow the GEM avocado which was developed at the University of California.
‘‘It’s a smaller, more compact tree so the fruit hides inside the tree a little bit more so it’s protected from the elements. We think it’s naturally a later maturing piece of fruit.
‘‘We have a lot of demand in New Zealand and Australia after Christmas and that’s a long time for the traditional Hass to actually be holding on to fruit . . .
‘‘So if we can get this new variety GEM to mature in that January, February, March window, well then there’s a market opportunity for us in those months when there’s a natural shortage of supply.’’
Mr Franks said 2500 trays of GEM would be produced this year but Seeka had 40,000 plants in the ground which would increase the volume to about 50,000 trays next year.
All going well, the GEM variety would be widely available in 2024, he said. — RNZ