The avocado market in India is gaining traction thanks to the food service industry. Orders for the fruit by hotels and restaurants have shot up in the past decade. They are sprucing up their menus by including avocado in different dishes. Guacamole, avocado in sandwiches, salads, smoothies and ice cream have become very popular with their customers.
The avocado has turned into a mainstream food in India. Millennials in the country are driving this trend. Many of them live in cities and are aware of this superfood. Their willingness to change food habits has led to an ever-growing demand for avocado.
Unlike in previous years, avocados are now widely available in India. A budding middle class in the Asian nation are the biggest buyers of the fruit. They are spending more therefore avocados are selling fast. Bearing in mind that they are keen on good quality fruit, they prefer imported avocados over local ones.
Avocado in India
Sales of avocado in India have risen greatly. The value of avocado market in India reached nearly 2.5 million US Dollars in 2021. In comparison to the year 2014, it is a sharp climb from 21,000 US Dollars. Avocados are slowly penetrating into other areas apart from the big cities.
India is opening up to countries that have emerged as regular suppliers of avocado. Promotion of avocados in the country has reached high levels. Additionally, tasting activities at some large retail outlets and food trade shows have exposed consumers to varieties like Hass. These are signs that the Indian avocado market is developing at a rapid rate.
Avocado India
Kenya aims to be the foremost exporter of avocados to India. This is after the country relaxed import regulations for avocados from Kenya. In 2022, an Indian delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare carried out a Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) in Kenya. The steps involved were pre-shipment inspections, evaluating post-harvest treatment technologies, quarantine inspection and certification facilities.
The process of unlocking India to Kenyan avocados has been finalized. The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) and the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage (PPQS) agreed upon certain quality and safety standards that an avocado exporter in Kenya must follow.
Here are the phytosanitary protocols that Kenyan avocados have to meet to be exported to India:
- Orchards, packing houses and fumigation treatment facilities must be registered by KEPHIS and approved by both KEPHIS and PPQS.
- Orchards must apply Good Agricultural Practices (G.A.P)
- Orchards must do pest monitoring supervised by KEPHIS.
- Orchards must use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to control quarantine pests of concern to India. These pests are:
- Mediterranean fruit fly
- Natal fruit fly
- Avocado leafroller
- False codling moth
- Avocado thrips
- White wax scale
- Avocado scab
- Avocado sunblotch viriod
- Black spots
- Avocados must be fumigated with Methyl bromide.
- Processing, packaging, storage and transportation must be under the supervision of KEPHIS.
- Avocados must be washed, brushed, sorted and separated from deformed fruit.
- Packaging materials must be clean and hygienic.
- After an inspection, KEPHIS issues a phytosanitary certificate for the approved batch.
- Avocados in transit must be kept in cold storage at 0°C or below for 10 days, 55°C or below for 11 days and 1.1°C or below for 12 days.
Sourcing Avocados from Kenya
Besides Kenya being a major avocado exporting country, the transit time from Kenya to India is about 6 hours via air freight and about 12 days via sea freight. That is a shorter time in comparison to South American countries. Here are other advantages Kenya has in supplying avocados to India:
- It has a longer season that lasts from February to October.
- Production costs are low therefore avocados from Kenya are competitively priced.
- Most of Kenya is covered by a sub-tropical climate which ensures consistency of quality and supply.
Here is a top avocado exporter in Kenya.
Freshela Exporters
Freshela is a Kenyan based company that engages in the sourcing, processing and exporting of avocados and other fresh produce.
Freshela is a proud exporter of Kenyan avocados. Our avocados are organically grown in the most ideal climatic conditions in Kenya.
We source avocados from our company farms and partner farms. Our partner farmers are proud and happy working with us.
Our avocados are cultivated with uncompromising dedication to excellence and freshness. We guarantee optimum maturity of avocados.
We give competitive pricing to our customers.
We use a modern grading machine to achieve desired avocado weight. The fruit is also graded to eliminate any with physical quality defects.
We pack avocado fruit in 4kg cartons for both air and sea freights. We use dry wooden pallets to pack the cartons. Each pallet for sea freight takes 276 cartons while each pallet for air freight takes 144 cartons.
All of our avocado packing is approved by FDA and is certified by HACCP Quality Assurance.
The avocados in our pack house go through accurate machine selection. The avocados are classified according to dry meter, size, colour and external skin defects.
After packing, we pre-cool our avocados to 5°C in our cold rooms. This reduces field heat immediately after packing.
This process conserves the weight of our avocados preventing them from softening, water loss and wilting. Long shelf life is guaranteed because our avocados stay fresh throughout the supply chain. Our customers are happy because of the high quality of avocado we deliver.
The pre-cooling process is in preparation for shipping. We maintain the cold temperatures and achieve consistent preservation by loading close to the cold rooms.
Our trained staff properly seal the refrigerated containers. Our quality assurance team then confirms before the containers leave the pack house. The avocados are now ready for export.
We ship in controlled atmosphere (CA) refrigerated containers (reefer.)
By working directly with avocado growers and cooperatives, we are able to deliver our produce within a short lead time. We believe that growers grow and exporters export. That is how our growers are able to do what they do best and in return we guarantee superior, quality produce.