After waiting the better part of 20 years, South Africa’s avocado industry is shipping its first container of avocados to China in the next week or two.
This follows a landmark agreement between the two Brics partners signed during last year’s Brics summit.
“Initially, only a small proportion of SA’s avocado crop will be exported to China, but we expect this to increase as the Chinese market grows and new South African plantings come into production,” said Derek Donkin, CEO of the South African Subtropical Growers’ Association (Subtrop).
“The initial application to access China was made 15 years ago, but once the Chinese authorities started working on the application – after access was granted to South African pears – the process took about three years,” he said.
Lindie Stroebel, Southern African country manager at the Nasdaq-listed global avo distributor Mission Produce, said subsequent to the market access agreement signed last year at the Brics summit, registration and verifications of participating packhouses and farms had to be completed. This included a physical verification visit by Chinese government officials.
South Africa is well suited to export avos to China because it is closer to China than its main export market rivals, particularly Peru, and is not affected by current shipping challenges such as delays at the Panama Canal and attacks in the Red Sea.
Stroebel explained that the go-ahead for shipping to China, had been granted after the peak of the South African avocado export season, from March to July.
Up until last year’s agreements, granting South African avos access to markets in China, Japan and India, the most significant factor hampering the further expansion of local avo production for export was limited export market access.
According to a report by the National Agricultural Marketing Council, market access to China and other Asiatic markets “further diversifies the avocado exports from the traditional export market in the European Union”.
“The demand for avocado consumption, especially from China and the Middle East, offers the conducive platform to further increase local production and such an increase will have positive benefits for local exporters and the economy at large. The local avocado production has been increasing in recent years, with new plantings of about 800 hectares planted annually.”
The three-year average for avo production in South Africa is estimated at 139 400 tonnes, of which about 45% is exported fresh.
