Peruvian avocado volume drops by 15% this year

At the beginning of June, the predicted decline in Peruvian avocado volumes was confirmed.

“Compared to last year, this is the fifth week of volume decline in Peru. Since the beginning of the year, we have had a loss-making campaign with volume declines of around 15 percent for this region,” François Bellivier, head of development at Capexo, told Agraria.

This situation contrasts with the beginning of the Peruvian season, where supply from the mountain region was higher than last year.

“The mountain season (Sierra) benefited from good rainfall compared to last year, but when we moved to production on the coast, volumes were much lower,” said Bellivier.

This is directly related to the El Niño phenomenon.

This shortage of supply naturally leads to an increase in prices.

“For the past few weeks, we have seen significantly lower volumes than last year, especially for the smaller calibers,” he said. “As a result, prices are significantly higher than in the same period last year and relatively good for the season.”

Another factor that could lead to an increase in the avocado harvest in July/August/September is the uncertainty of supplies from Kenya to Europe.

However, despite this general decline in supply, the European market remains well supplied.

“Even if Peru is negative overall compared to 2023, the volume exported to Europe is still correct, as the market is still better than that of the United States, where prices are less attractive for Peruvian exporters,” said Bellivier. “This benefits us because it means that in a situation where there is a supply deficit, we can still have some volume.”