South Africa now has access to export fresh avocados to China, all that remains to be done is make sure the industry has everything in place, such as the registration of farms and packhouses and that the fumigation process is in order.
“The South African Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) will inspect farms and packhouses and register fumigation facilities,” said Derek Donkin from SAAGA. We are near the end of this year’s production so there won’t big volumes going initially.
Peru and Mexico will be the main competitors in the Chinese market
“South Africa is quite reliant on the European markets for its avocado exports, so this will be a good alternative for current volumes, but the Chinese market is more important for the future growth of the South African avocado industry.”
At the moment South Africa has no access to other Asian markets, but Derek is hoping that Japan will be next as the protocol for that market is currently being finalised.
“Potential volumes to China are difficult to gauge, how long is a piece of string? If we take 10% of our volume which is 7000 tonnes that would be a good starting value and possibly over time we can grow this.”
For more information:
Derek Donkin
Subtrop/ SAAGA
Tel: +27 15 307 3676
Email: Derek@subtrop.co.za
www.subtrop.co.za/