Industry body uses National Guacamole Day to encourage Kiwis to broaden avocado consumption
The New Zealand avocado industry could add more than NZ$30mn in value to the domestic market if consumption increased by 1kg.
That’s according to NZ Avocado, as it celebrated National Guacamole Day on 16 September and encouraged locals to eat more of the green fruit. The industry body released a study to coincide with the day, suggesting that changing eating habits could help drive that growth.
The research found that lunch is now a more common avocado occasion than breakfast for New Zealand adults, at 23 per cent compared with 18 per cent, while almost a quarter (24 per cent) eat avocado across several different meals or occasions.
The study also found younger consumers are drawing inspiration from TikTok and Instagram and incorporating Indian, Middle Eastern, Pacific and Asian flavours into avocado-based meals.
“Avocado has traditionally been strongly associated with breakfast, brunch and toast, but consumers are increasingly using it across a much wider range of meals,” NZ Avocado CEO Brad Siebert told the New Zealand Herald.
“The opportunity is to make avocado a more regular part of what people prepare at home rather than something associated with one particular meal or recipe.
“We don’t need to reach Mexican consumption levels for that to make a material difference. Even gradually moving closer to Australia would represent meaningful additional demand for New Zealand-grown avocados.”
New Zealanders currently consume around 3kg of avocado per person each year, compared with 4.7kg in Australia and 12kg in Mexico.
NZ Avocado estimated that if local consumption moved to around Australian levels, the domestic wholesale market could potentially grow from around NZ$60mn to more than NZ$90mn annually at current values.
It’s an important target as production continues to grow. Initial estimates for the 2026/27 season peg the crop at a near-record eight million trays expected across domestic and export markets.
“Domestic consumption provides an important market for growers, and the scale of the opportunity becomes more significant as production increases,” he said.
“The challenge for the industry is not simply producing more fruit, but continuing to build demand so that additional volume can be absorbed by both domestic and export markets.”
