In March this year the Australian and Indian governments issued a joint statement welcoming the finalisation of market access for Hass avocados.
Australian avocado grower and exporter The Avolution has played a pioneering role in exporting Australian avocados to India, and this week will see the first trial shipment arrive in India.
"Australia will send 10 trial shipments over the next month, to verify the protocol," explains Antony Allen CEO at The Avolution."They have been picked and arrived in Brisbane last Wednesday where they were prepped and inspected by the Australian Department of Agriculture. They will then be airfreighted on Monday night to arrive on Tuesday."
The Avolution are working together with Costa and Simpsons Farm to send the ten trial shipments.
"This is the first time we have had to run a process of trials and it is a big responsibility," said Antony.
If the first trial shipment goes well, we will then send three more shipments over the following three weeks to complete the ten trials. We will then wait for the Indian Government to present the final protocol.
Australia and India are very closely connected and have had a Free Trade Agreement since the end of last year. This will see tariffs drop from the current 21% to 0% by 2028.
"Australia has an abundant supply of avocados which is still increasing year on year and they needed a large market to take this fruit. We are close enough to send it by sea which gives us an advantage over other suppliers in South America and New Zealand, we are also the only country which can supply for 12 months of the year.
"The Indian market demands a size profile which hits the sweet spot for Australian production as it is in the mid point of our size range."
According to Antony, all going well, the sky is the limit for potential volumes to India. "It could potentially be a 100 container market, The consumer demand is already there. The avocado can easily be built into Indian cuisine, there are a high percentage of vegetarians and food is part of their culture."
