1. Avocado Exports
The South African Story
Louis Vorster & Derek Donkin
July 2009

2. Background
The main cultivars exported from South Africa
• Fuerte
• Pinkerton
• Hass
• Ryan

3. History
Until the late 1980’s quality of export fruit was a
major challenge
• Cold damage
• Grey pulp
• Pulp spot
• Post harvest decay (Anthracnose/stem end rot)
Fruit sensitivity a function of climatic conditions
- South Africa, Mexico, Australia
(Queensland/NSW) and New Zealand similar.

4. Research &
Development
• A number of people contributed to develop
a successful and competitive export
avocado industry through dedicated
research.
• Amongst these were Joe Darvis, Jan
Toerien, Stefan Köhne, Blackie Swarts, Jurg
Bezuidenhout, Guy Whitney, John Bower,
Jonty Cutting, Nigel Wolstenholme, Gawie
Eksteen, Bertie Truter, etc.
• Institutions : Westfalia, University of Natal
and ARC - ITSC

5. Orchard practices
• Nitrogen levels
• Calcium translocation
• Potassium / Nitrogen ratio
• Cell wall integrity / browning enzymes
(Polyphenol oxidase)

6. Disease Control
Pre-harvest
• Copper oxychloride
• Timing of application
• Efficacy of application
Post-harvest
• Prochloraz (Omega / Chronos)
• Westfalia Biocoat ®

7. Picking
• Gentle handling of fruit
• Stem end dip (Prochloraz / Westfalia Biocoat®)
Tendency towards smaller trees
Pruning / hedge rows
Objective : Limit lenticel damage /
bruising / stem end rot

8. Packing
• Quality evaluation at intake (picking injuries and
other defects)
• Fruit handling – important principles
- Intake
- Roller speed
- Type of brushes
- Limit falls and rolling of fruit
- Measurements – electronic apple (Visier)
Objective : Limit lenticel damage and bruising

9. Cooling
• Cold room design
Limit moisture loss
Q = Vl x Sw X ∆T
• Carton design
- Ventilation
- Strength

10. Logistical Efficiency
• Controlled atmosphere (CA) - most common
post harvest treatment for SA shipments
• 1-MCP (Smartfresh™) technology is starting to
play a more important role as an alternative
• Advanced Fresh Air Management (AFAM plus)
might also be a consideration for the future.

11. Temperature
management
• Temperature regime
• Fruit maturity / cultivar
• Time / temperature interaction
• Fruit age

12. Market dynamics
– impact of fruit quality
• Undersupplied market – forgiving
• Oversupplied market – very competitive

13. European supply
EU Hass Supply 2004 to 2009
1200
1000
'000 cartons
800
600
400
200
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52
Week on Market
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

14. Price trends in Europe
Hass price track record
12
10
8
Euro per carton
6
4
2
0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53
week on market
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

15. The Tesco Strategy
Price Virtuous Circle
Lower costs
Lower Prices
Internal
Efficiency
Higher Volume Tesco

16. SA Exports
• Consolidation within the industry
• Grower driven export companies
• Forward integration into markets

17. Market development
• Selling more in existing markets
- Create greater awareness for avocados as
a health product
- Availability of Ripe & Ready to eat
avocados
• Develop new markets
- Israel’s efforts in former Eastern Block
countries

18. European market growth
(‘000 tons) (Year = 1 Sep – 31 Aug)
1996/7 43 34 25 11 25 140
1997/8 35 63 19 9 52 179
1998/9 24 40 13 10 32 120
1999/0 46 60 14 11 43 175
2000/1 38 45 11 16 34 145
2001/2 45 60 13 11 40 170
2002/3 27 35 20 1.4 16 35 10 145
2003/4 26 63 16 15 30 13 168
2004/5 54 45 15 16 47 17 206
2005/6 28 54 20 18 15 36 28 200
2006/7 58 56 10 41 10 37 34 250
2007/8 27 55 10 27 9 50 48 230
2008/9* 32 56 11 16 12 44 44 220
* Projected
Israel Spain Mexico Chile Kenya S.Africa Peru

19. Market sophistication -
Accreditations

20. Conclusion
Through the implementation of sound scientific
and commercial principles South Africa has
become one of the leading avocado suppliers to
the European market.

21. Thank you