The New Zealand avocado industry has come to the end of a very disappointing 2023-24 harvest with the lowest export sales volume of the past 10 years.
Growers have been told to expect prices that will barely cover their picking and packing, certainly not a year’s worth of spraying, tree care and paying down debt.
After the excitement of hosting the World Avocado Congress for the first time in early 2023, the harvest season beginning last July has fallen substantially short of previous years.
Fewer than 1.5 million trays have been exported, compared with up to 5 million in recent more favourable and productive seasons.
The total harvest is forecast at 4.5 million trays, being only 60% of the 7-8 million-tray harvests of the previous four years.
Domestic sales are around 3 million trays annually, worth about $50 million.
Trays are packed with graded fruit up to 5.5kg in total weight.
This season much larger volumes of smaller, lower-grade fruit were sold domestically and prices were lower for consumers and growers.
Class 3 fruit was diverted to oil processors and some growers stopped picking because their returns would not cover the costs of picking and packing.
The orchard gate return will be below $10,000/ha, compared with the range of $17,000 to $45,000 across the past decade.
Fruit that was graded suitable for export will pay the growers about $6 to $7 a tray, versus returns of around $30 in recent years.
Avocado Export Council chair Jim Tarawa said the pain was felt along the supply chain.
“While growers endure the brunt of these issues it is important to acknowledge the impact that these tough market conditions also have on our harvest, transport and packing service providers, some of whom have already or will likely exit the industry this season,” he wrote in the industry journal Avoscene.
Avocado NZ communications manager Matthew Ball said in the same journal that the domestic market has quickly grown in significance.
“It is now regarded as one of the industry’s most vital components. Its capacity to absorb large volumes and the value it generates” cannot be overstated, he said.
Primor Produce director John Carroll, who sold a majority of the exports in conjunction with other exporters, said Australia had its biggest crop and NZ imports were the smallest for decades.
Asian markets were a mixed bag. Peru sold a massive crop to China, and Australia exported to Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
“The domestic market was awash with fruit damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle and the export packouts were at an historical low,” Carroll said.
“There was no market for Class 2 fruit with any value and fruit that did make it through to Class 1 had other issues when it aged and was presented for sale.”
Prospects for the coming season are considerably better in terms of quality and quantity.
Southern hemisphere growing competitors Australia and Peru will have lighter crops and NZ projections are for exports of 3 million to 3.5 million trays, he said.
