What was it all about?

This investment, which ran from 2017 to 2020, ensured the Australian avocado industry was prepared to export and had capacity to pursue new and improved market access. It also provided the necessary support for government negotiations with intended markets as required.

Australian avocado production has increased significantly from 46,446 tonnes in 2008/09 to 85,546 tonnes in 2018/19 in response to domestic demand. Based on production forecasts developed by Avocados Australia, local production is likely to exceed 115,000 tonnes by 2025. This is well above previous consumption growth and the expectation is that significantly more fruit will be marketed to offshore markets as domestic market saturation increases.

The project team developed the Avocado Export Strategy 2019-2021, which lays the foundations for export market development and market access. The strategy identified four key areas that the project team then developed throughout the project:

• Market access and maintenance
• Export trade development
• Branding and positioning
• Building industry capacity.

The project team supported many export industry development activities required for the industry to reach its export potential, delivering several key achievements including:

• A well-informed avocado industry with increased awareness of export opportunities and requirements due to targeted education, and regular and insightful communication activities
• A workable new market access protocol negotiated for Japan, with a market improvement protocol under negotiation for Thailand. Western Australian growers and exporters have successfully utilised the new Japanese market access protocol.
• An engaged core group of key export stakeholders within the Avocado Export Project Reference Group and Avocado Australia’s export project team ensured continuity of export knowledge within the industry.

Australian avocado exports increased on average 32 per cent per year over 5 years to a record level of 4,272 tonnes in 2019. It increased 71 per cent from the previous year and was valued at AU$24.55 million in 2019.

ACT NOW

The Australian Avocado Export Strategy 2019-2021 is available in the ‘export’ section of the industry’s Best Practice Resource library along with many other resources for avocado growers.

More information is available from the Export Development section of the Avocados Australia website, including details on export volumes and links to export support resources, along with past editions of the levy-funded Talking Avocados magazine and Guacamole e-newsletter.

The project also worked with project Avocado industry and market data capture and analysis (AV16006) to deliver a global market reporting framework.