Chilean Avocado Market Guide

Usually the most consumed sizes in South America are from 48s to 84s, that means from 16 to 30 in the European market and it depends on the seasonality were the trend goes from one size to another.

Global Market

• Global Market Size: 6.58 B (2020)
• 235% Increase (Over the last 10 years, 2011 vs 2020)
• 51% increase (Over the last 5 years, 2016 vs 2020)

Avocado Export Markets (2020)

• Mexico 2.74 B
• Peru: 759 M
• Spain: 442 M
• Chile: 219 M (Normally 300 M)
• Kenya: 169 M
• US: 164 M
• Columbia: 146 M

Avocado Import Markets (2020)

• EU: 72.4%
• LATAM: 11.6%
• Asia: 8.6%
• North America: 7.4%

Trends and Characteristics

• In 2020, Production / Export levels were the lowest due to the climate issues
• Dominated by a few key players in the market, 80% big players vs 20% small/medium players
• A saturated supply market as the large players only get larger
• With Chile's domestic consumption increasing significantly, Chilean suppliers are showing a growing preference towards supplying to the domestic market

MY 2019/2020

- Chile exported 133K mt of Avocados

- 8 Companies exported 110K tons out of this – more than 80%; again, heavily dominated by few players (20 years ago, big 4 accounted for 90% of the market share)

MY 2020/2021 (2020 Aug – 2021 Feb)

- Production/export was historically low due to heavy draught

- Peru and Colombian market took market share from Chile.

MY 2021/2022

- Production: Going to be higher than the previous year, however unsure yet whether it will recover the previous normal years (Most of orchards are in the hills so it is hard to get the estimates)

- Markets are more stable than last year, and internal consumption has grown significantly, which will put a minimal downward pressure on the export amount. Currency exchange rate is somehow stable, but today, growers are making more money selling in the domestic market rather than exporting abroad.

- For some countries, such as China, the positive trend will be sustained as consumers in China are willing to pay good prices for Chilean avocados because Chilean avocados are oilier than - -- Peru avocados. (e.g. a month ago, one of the Chinese buyers paid USD 10/kg).

The UK Is Ranked 2nd in Chile Hass Avocado Export

• In 2020, the UK imported a total of 122,298 mt Avocados from countries including Peru, Chile, South Africa, Israel, Spain, Colombia, etc.
• The UK is seen to be one of the most profitable markets for Avocado, given its increasing consumption trend relative to its population of 67.22 million (2020)

-Most of the time, growers themselves are not exporters. If they export directly, they are subjected to additional tax.

-Big-sized Growers set up separate companies for exporting fruit to take advantage, which will significantly decrease the tax liability.

- Domestic harvest period: All year long, but peak production is 4th quarter every year

- Export Season: August – February (Export season is limited Q3, Q4 because there is excess demand in the domestic market outside of this period; it is way much profitable for the Chilean     growers to sell the goods in the domestic market between Q1, Q2

Seasonality (by variety)

Seasonality (by country)

-Main importing countries include Netherlands, UK, Germany, USA, and Spain. 

-The low value/volumes of 2020 for Netherlands and the UK is due to the record low production in 2020 

-72% of export production are heading to EU and the remaining volumes heads to LATAM, East Asia and North America.

-Specific tip destinations of Chilean Hass Avocado from highest to lowest order is:

Netherland (27%), UK (13%), Germany (11%), USA (7%), France (6%), China (5%)

The Chilean Avocado export market is heavily dominated by a few players. Main exporters include Propal, Agricom, Jorge Schmidt Cia, El Parque, Santa Cruz, Subsole, and Cabilfrut. These top seven players account for 83% of the total export volume.