The Kenyan avocado season is in full swing. Ron Jongejan is from FreshFlow, Vegpro Kenya's Dutch sales office. He reflects on a good start to the season. "We marketed far more than initially planned. Green avocados sales were difficult, and we've stopped loading Fuerte. But the Hass avocado season's going better than expected."
"The avocado market's been excellent for a long time. However, from Easter, the market's become more unstable. Retailers are selling a little less. There's more price pressure on the market too. Before Easter, we saw prices above 10 euros for the small sizes, we are now just below that. Of the large sizes, fewer are arriving and the prices are even higher," says Ron. "Peru's released a good volume of avocados. We can continue with avocados from Kenya until October. But that's why we've reduced the volume."
Vegpro has planted 200 hectares of avocados in the past two years. It plans to expand production further. And develop new markets through Fresh Flow. The avocados are sold under two brands. The premium line is sold as Just Avo's, the other as Avocados (pictured below).
"Kenya's taken a series of great steps in avocado production in recent years. They're controlling the dry matter content much better. That country's disadvantage is that they often work with many different growers. In the future, we'll receive everything from our own plantation. So, it'll be easier to ripen everything evenly. This new planting is a big step forward for us. And we hope to attract more European supermarkets," concludes Ron.
For more information:
Ron Jongejan
Fresh-Flow BV.
9 Graslaan
1424 SB, De Kwakel, NL
Tel: +31 (0) 613 050 246
Email: [email protected]