Avocado in Australia: from green gold to green tide

The price of an avocado on the local Australian market slumped to $0.80 (US) in mid-June 2021: this after reaching $7 in the spring of 2018. We can blame the abundance of the local harvest, due to ideal climate conditions and above all to the enormous areas planted in recent years, especially in North Queensland and in the Western Australia region (nearly 5 000 ha planted between 2016 and 2020 nationwide, taking the cultivation area to approximately 13 000 ha). The production forecast for 2021-22 could exceed 23 million 5.5-kg boxes, i.e. a level 65 % higher than in 2020-21. It should more than double in the Sunraysia region, and record an increase of more than 200 % in Western Australia. In the face of this green tide, the objective is to ease the load on the local market by boosting export volumes, in particular to the neighbouring Asian markets, currently still marginal (approximately 4 000 t in 2019, and 2 000 t in 2020). This is a clearly strategic avenue, with a very substantial part of the Australian cultivation area not yet in production, and the local market already registering a very high consumption level (nearly 4 kg/capita/year). The Australian production boom is also a challenge for New Zealand, which exports between 40 % and 50 % of its harvest to Australia. This abrupt turnaround in the situation down under is a powerful illustration of the boom in world production … and its initial adverse consequences.

Sources: Avocado Australia, Comtrade, abc Australia, The Guardian

avocado - australia - production

avocado - australia - production