The South African avocado season has started at Hagé International. Earlier this month Elena Rogojnikova visited supplier ZZ2 to view the production with her own eyes. "The market for avocados is very good at the moment. The prices are good and there is enough demand. We are looking forward to the coming season. We are taking into account 25 to 30% less avocados due to the hail in the last month."
According to Elena South Africa is an important supplier of avocados for Hagé. "Five years ago we started with a more professional approach to the import of exotics. Avocado is the main product in this category for us. Our creed is to supply product of the highest quality. The choice of supplier is of great importance in this and we have found a reliable supplier in the South African company ZZ2. ZZ2 is one of our main suppliers of avocados and we have now been working together for five years. The import went first through Summerfield and now through Core Fruit."
"The ZZ2 avocados are known for their excellent quality and are very popular among both Dutch and foreign customers," continues Elena. "The demand for avocados has been rising gradually in all European countries for a number of years. In France for instance, avocado is eaten very regularly. In the Netherlands the demand in the past remained behind because the product was less known. This has now changed positively, due to which the demand in the Netherlands also increases further."
Western European supermarkets are mainly choosing Hass avocados Ready to Eat, whilst the preference of Eastern European, Greek and Italian customers is often still for greenskin avocados, such as Fuerte or Pinkerton. Yet our expectation is that Hass avocados will win more and more popularity," continues Elena. "A few years ago few people knew how to eat an avocado. Due to the rising popularity consumers are getting to know more about the flavour and application and the avocado appears on shopping lists more and more often. This is why we expect an increasing demand over the coming years."
