Right from flowering, New Zealand’s avocado industry was predicting this year would be a big one. The fruit’s biennial bearing pattern meant this season was always likely to be bigger than 2010/11’s ‘down’ crop, as did the increasing production from maturing trees, but all those factors have combined to make this year a real bumper.
The latest forecasts put the 2011/12 harvest at 5.4m-5.8m trays (5.5kg), the midpoint of which would make it New Zealand’s largest ever avocado crop, 80 per cent larger than 2010/11 and 21 per cent higher than the last ‘up’ year in 2009/10. Assuming a 60 per cent packout, explained Carwyn Williams of exporter Team Avocado, 3.5m-3.7m trays of that crop will be available for export.
A mild summer and autumn have given the fruit ideal growing conditions, and so far winter has been kind too.
“The crop is maturing well with better than normal size for this time of the year,” Steve Trickett, marketing director for exporter Just Avocados, told Fruitnet.com. “The unusually mild autumn has allowed fruit to continue to size `and` to date we have had no significant winter winds to blow fruit off trees and no frosts.”
New Zealand’s biggest avocado bugbear remains the fruit’s biennial bearing habit, which has made it difficult for exporters to build reliable business in export markets.
“In terms of how we manage this from a marketing perspective with our customers, it’s like we spend one year marketing and one year apologising,” said Mr Williams.
The country’s avocado industry is a participant in international research efforts to overcome the trait, but that research may take many years to find a definitive cure, if one exists. Some areas of New Zealand, particularly the far north, are less prone to biennial bearing, and Mr Trickett said production in those areas is increasing, which in the medium term will help flatten the pattern.
“Overcoming this problem is important, and will provide much needed supply stability, which is certainly needed to confidently grow new markets and be a reliable supplier in existing markets,” added exporter Seeka’s avocado business manager Jonathan Cutting.
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