Kenya Avocado Market:
Kenya is one of the MOST aggressive farming nations in Africa.
The country leads in the export of black tea, cut flowers, mangos, herbs, French beans, baby carrots, Avocado and many other commodities.
What this means is Kenyan farmers are very SHARP in taking advantage of opportunities for profit.
Such an opportunity presented itself in the export of Hass and Fuete avocados to Europe, Middle East and other export destinations.
There was a…
Rising Avocado Demand Caused By Corona Virus Pandemic.
You and I know what happened. Many countries had locked their borders and Airspace to travel.
This lead to a demand in foodcrops in many export destinations.
One of the food crops was Avocado.
As I said before Kenyan Farmers are real Capitalists.
They saw the opportunity and promptly took advantage of it.
From January -October 2020, they exported a massive 68,000 tons of Hass and Fuete Avocado.
But, they still couldn’t meet the demand.
By then, almost all Avocado ready for export had been exported.
What remained were the immature ones that required some time to grow.
But the market wanted more at even better prices than before.
Unscruplus Businessmen Start Harvesting the Immature avocados
To say the truth, there are some people who do not have a soul.
These people can sell you substandard items as long as they get money.
People of that character are everywhere, in Every country and industry.
They also happen to be in the Avocado export sector.
These ‘Black sheep’ started exporting imature avocados.
Luckily Kenya has a sharp regulator….
Horticulture Directorate Temporarily Banned the Exoport of Avocado
“We have stopped export of avocado starting today. This will allow the current crop that is in the farm to mature.
Second, the export ban will protect our overseas market,”
The ban follows rampant cases of traders picking young crops, encouraged by high prices of the commodity at the international market.
Said Head of Horticulture Directorate Benjamin Tito.
Speaking in another event, Hosea Machuki, CEO of Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK) said…
“Kenya shipped some 59,000 tons in 2019, making it the leading fruit export.”
The key driver of increasing exports of avocado is the expansion of area under cultivation.
“Farmers outside traditional growing zones are embracing the fruit,” Machuki said.
He added, Avocado is a key foreign exchange earner in Kenya.
It accounts for about one-fifth of the total horticultural exports.
He noted, “Kenya has a huge potential for avocado production from both small and large scale farmers.”
Impressive Q1 Kenya Avocado Export Data Released
Data from the Horticulture Directorate shows there was an increase of 93 per cent YoY, to Sh4.26 billion (€32.8 mln).
The increase came about with the increase of export Volumes 26,481 tons of the fruit between January and March this year, compared to 15,101 tons in 2020.
The Directorate of Horticulture allowed the resumption of export of the popular Fuerte variety on February 15, 2021, followed by Hass avocadoes on March 8 2021, after close to a four-month ban.
The regulator had banned the export of the two popular avocado varieties last November to curb the harvesting of immature crops.
The avocado season for these main varieties normally comes to an end at that time resulting in a shortage of the fruit in the country, pushing up the cost of the commodity.
Kenya Avocado Market is currently destinations in Europe and the Middle East.
Avocados have been a major part of Kenyan horticultural earnings, bringing in nearly half of the total returns from fruit exports.
Kenya’s avocado exports jumped 15 per cent – to 68,000 tons – over the twelve months to October 2020, earning the country Sh14 billion (€107.8 mln).
