Avocado oil has never been more popular, says export sales area manager Aldo Pesce.
The health benefits of avocado oil are fuelling a big increase in demand, while at the same time more growers are moving into its production due to heightened risks in the fresh market caused by logistical disruptions resulting from rising geopolitical tensions. So says Aldo Pesce, export sales area manager of Bari-based Amenduni Nicola, a leading manufacturer of avocado oil solutions.
“We are witnessing an incredible growth in the Eastern African markets,” he tells Fruitnet. “The constraints caused by the rising political instability in the Middle East – namely the closures of the Suez Canal – and the threats posed by Houthi attacks, has caused a shift in focus of avocado producers and traders away from fresh avocado exports to avocado oil. Just in the last year we have installed and commissioned around 13 lines in Kenya alone.”
Fortunately, as part of the Valbruna group, one of the main producers of special stainless steel in Europe, Almenduni is able to ramp up production of its machines and scale up production to meet this new demand.
The company continues to update and improve its machines. Most recently it has developed a special solution to maximise the yield and the thermal efficiency of the avocado oil extraction process. As Pesce explains, “the proper heating of avocado paste, during malaxation stage is very crucial to ensure high yield and the highest quality oil, by reducing oxidation. We upgraded the hot water circulation system at malaxation stage in order to reduce the heat requirement. And we have further reduced electricity consumption on our machines by using variable frequency drive on the main motors”.
Another efficiency comes in the form of being able to operate the machines without adding water, which not only means they have a lower environmental impact but is also beneficial to oil quality.
Once the machines have been installed, Amenduni’s technical team is on hand in key markets to provide expert after-sale service, be it training operators or supplying spare parts when required. “In avocado oil producing countries specifically we have teams based in Mexico, the world’s biggest producer of avocado oil, and Kenya, (ranked second), Peru and Colombia. We also provide support from Italy via our technical team which travels all over the world to benchmark best practices in the sector and ensure the best customer experience,” Pesce says.
He points out that as the avocado oil market continues to grow, the extraction process is becoming increasingly automated, allowing companies to produce the product at an industrial scale. “This not only cuts the cost of processing but also ensures best of quality, as the amount of time the fruit is stored before processing is reduced,” he explains. “As a pioneer and market leader in oil extraction machines, Amenduni today supplies seven in ten of all machines with a capacity of more than 10 tonnes per hour.
Pesce is optimistic about the future of the avocado oil market. “This is a very young industry – avocado oil has only been produced for the last 20 years and has been growing steadily ever since, so we think production will continue to expand, especially in African countries as well as in Colombia and Peru,” he says. “Indonesia also has excellent prospects – despite currently being ranked the world’s fifth biggest avocado producer, it doesn’t yet make any avocado oil. Plus, on the market side, avocado oil is consumed almost exclusively in the US and some Northern European countries so there is a great potential for growth on other markets.
