Reduced volumes and rising costs make for challenging export scenario
Colombian avocado exporters are facing one of their most challenging seasons in years due to a sharp fall in shipment volumes, rising labour costs and an unfavourable exchange rate.
Exports are down significantly in the first half of 2026 as a result of heavy rains at the end of last year. The Traviesa season, which typically runs from March/April to August/September, is expected to close with volumes down by as much as 50 per cent, one of the lowest levels in years, due to reduced supply caused by widespread blossom loss. The wet conditions have also led to an abundance of smaller sizes.
This has resulted in more fruit being destined for the local market. National avocado association CorpoHass has been working hard to increase domestic demand, which is steadily increasing.
Joel Pascual, general manager of Cartama Europe, said exporters are facing a challenging scenario due to production issues and rising costs.
“Colombia is 40-50 per cent down for this Traviesa season, which combined with a 25 per cent increase in minimum wages that was imposed in January and the appreciation of the Colombian peso versus the euro and dollar, means this is being an extremely difficult year for exporters,” he told Fruitnet. “The internal market is also stronger than ever so competition for fruit is very tough.”
Regarding the outlook for the rest of 2026, Pascual noted: “Two weeks ago we were expecting a generous main crop, with volumes around 5 per cent higher than last season. But we are starting to feel the first effects of El Niño, having experienced very little rain the last 10 days, and we are not yet fully convinced of how this is going to affect us”.
Cartama said it hoped that the main season harvest could be brought forward as much as possible so it could start packing at the end of August in order to maintain a similar volume to last season for the latter part of the year. “This would mean we’d be looking at a year-on-year decline of around 10-15 per cent in volume,” Pascual said.
He noted that volumes from Peru had started to decline, and that the European market is currently behaving “better than expected, especially for smaller sizes”, adding that the coming weeks would be key to how the season unfolds.
