The Spanish avocado season has already started with the Bacon variety. This green skin avocado has opened the long-awaited domestic campaign, which this year, just like the mango one, will be marked by the impact of adverse weather and drought, whose consequences have been very severe in areas such as Axarquia, said Alvaro and Juan Miguel Gonzalez, of Tropicsur.
"The volume of every avocado variety this year is going to be lower in all producing areas, and the calibers are expected to be rather small. With the Bacon, the first variety on the market, we are obtaining medium-sized fruit because, in general, this avocado reaches considerably large sizes," said Juan Miguel. "However, we are seeing a downward market trend."
"Prices, fortunately, have so far been quite good, reaching around 8.5 Euro per 4 kilo box. Compared to last year, they are around 25-30% higher, both at origin and in the market; however, sales are not going very smoothly. The Spanish Bacon is coming up against the end of the Peruvian Hass season and consumers have become accustomed to Hass avocado consumption in recent years. For that reason, it is important for the sector to organize promotional campaigns that can help highlight the qualities of the other varieties produced in Spain," said Tropicsur's Álvaro and Juan Miguel.
This campaign, Malaga's mango sector has officially presented its "Mango de Málaga" label, under which the fruit is already being marketed. This seal is linked to the product's geographical identity, and the avocados of the province could soon follow the same path.
"Undoubtedly, this is an instrument that would truly help in the promotion of Malaga's avocados, but we will have to work very efficiently from the get go, and marketing companies in the sector will have to remain united as ever. We have the best avocados in the world, and probably also some of the best mangoes. Years are coming in which the production is increasing a lot globally, and given our climate-related limitations, we cannot compete in terms of volume with countries like Mexico or Peru, but we can differentiate ourselves in terms of quality compared to any origin. In fact, the quality of our fruit is the best weapon for the Spanish subtropical sector."
"At Tropicsur, we believe that a little more help and promotion should also be given to traditionally 'secondary' varieties, those that open and close the Spanish campaign, and that in addition to launching a brand, there should be advertising and marketing campaigns for all types and varieties of avocados from Spain."
We must not forget that avocados like the Bacon could play an important role in the sector's goal of expanding the window of the lucrative Spanish campaign, both at the beginning and in the final stretch.
"We've wanted to add value to these avocados, like the Bacon, and to this end we have created the Pimpim brand, which we launched just a month ago," said the Gonzalez brothers. "Tropicsur's roots are in fruit production and we are 100% committed to the domestic sector, so since three weeks ago, when the Spanish campaign started, we have only been offering domestic Bacon avocados, which are being exported mainly to the Netherlands and Eastern European countries. We are also supplying mangoes from the campaign that is about to end."
"We have finished the Osteen campaign with a lack of size 12 fruit"
The situation for mangoes has been particularly difficult this year. "The campaign kicked off with a production forecast that has eventually not been fulfilled due to a reduction in the calibers," said Alvaro.
"We started noticing this problem in July, and in the first half of August we saw already that the fruit sizes were going to be predominantly small, with sizes 9, 10 and 12 as the most common. Therefore, Tropicsur started taking measures in August to try promoting the sale of these sizes, to such an extent, that we have finished the Osteen campaign with a shortage of size 12. "This success has also been possible thanks to the creation of our Bonito Bleuge brand, with which we aimed to add even more value to the quality of Spanish mangoes."
