The president of the Association of Producers and Exporters of Hass Avocado of Peru (ProHass), Juan Carlos Paredes Rosales, reported that, as a consequence of the weather, which has impacted the size of the fruit, Peru has exported a total of 570,000 tons of fresh Hass avocado, a similar volume to the one recorded in the 2022 campaign, and well below the 620,000 tons that it was projected to ship at the beginning of this year.
Regarding prices, he said that shipments in the first quarter of the year (that is, with arrivals until May) registered better prices, but that prices had fallen considerably since then due to the high supply of Peruvian avocado.
The target markets' behavior
The forecasts for the United States were also wrong, Paredes shared. Peru expected to increase its Hass avocado shipments to the US by 20% and in the end it registered a 40% decrease in volume over the 2022 campaign, going from 125,000 tons to only 75,000 tons.
Things with Europe were complicated, he said, despite the fact that exports to this market grew by 9% in volume, going from 305,000 tons to 334,000 tons. In 9 weeks of the campaign, the continent has received more than 1,000 containers each week, 700 to 800 containers of which came from Peru and the rest from South Africa, Israel, Kenya, and other origins.
"A thousand containers a week is a historic volume that Europe has never received before. This market consumed all the fruit. The 50,000 tons that were not sent to the United States went to Europe and Asia, but the increase in volume has obviously had an impact on the fruit's price," he said.
According to the president of ProHass, exports to Asia grew significantly (+41.5%), going from 53,000 tons to 75,000 tons.
He also said that the Chilean market was very important for Peru, because of its proximity and because they pay better prices than Europe. He said they initially expected to export 56,000 tons to Chile, but that they had sent about 60,000 tons, i.e. 5% more than in the 2022 campaign.