The world avocado market has seen extremely rapid growth over the past 10 years. Avocado exporting nations who held just a small amount of market share, have now gained traction with the profitability of the avocado industry. Tanzania is one of the countries that is now realizing the potential of the avocado.
Over this ten-year period, the global avocado market has increased its size to almost four times larger. This increase has been mainly driven by the growing demand for avocados around the world and the new understanding of the benefits of the avocado. Logistical, transport, technological advances and world trade deals such as the one between Tanzania and India have also contributed to a larger global avocado market.
Tanzania has been making major strides with its export levels of avocados. Tanzania started exporting in the 2009-10 season with less than 100 tonnes exported for its first three years of exporting. The past 10 years has seen great increases for the avocado producing country, rising to just above 12,000 tonnes in the year 2021.
Tanzania Avocado Export Price
Since Tanzania became an avocado exporting country in 2009, avocado farmers are reaping higher returns. The Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) says Tanzania exported almost 8,000 tons of avocado in 2018 valued at 2 million US Dollars to Europe, Africa and Asia.
The price of Tanzania avocados has been on an upward trend in recent years. The rising global consumption of avocados will continue to push the prices up.
Here are the total values in export for avocados from Tanzania between 2012 and 2021:
Avocado Price per Tonne
International buyers for Tanzania avocados are increasing in number. The government of Tanzania says a ton of avocados climbed from TZS1.2 million in 2015 to TZS1.8 million in 2020.
Avocado Price per kg
More Tanzanians are health conscious and this has made them spend more on healthier foods like avocados. The Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA) says that farm-gate prices for avocados rose from TZS450 (US0.19 dollars) in 2014 to TZS1,500 (US0.65 dollars) in 2020 per kilo.
Price of Avocado per Kilo 2021
The rising volume of avocado exports from Tanzania has helped farmers increase the quality standards of their crop making them highly profitable. The ever-popular avocado continues to flourish in the global export market and avocado growers in Tanzania are reaping the benefits.
Good quality avocados were hard to find in 2021 and cost almost 50% more than they did during the same period in 2020. The lower supply of avocados from Tanzania in the export market can be attributed to the alternate bearing nature of avocados with a heavier crop in one year, followed by a lighter crop the next and 2021 was a lighter crop year.
In 2021, Tanzania shipped avocados to Europe from June to October. It exported many small calibers of Hass avocados. Small calibers in the European market are from code 22 to 32 weighing 80g-196g.
Demand for small calibers is strong. Such strong demand from the international market, push Hass prices up. As a result, in 2021 the price of smaller sizes shot up. Small calibers were priced between EUR7and EUR8 (US8 dollars-US9 dollars.)
Factors Affecting Avocado Price in Tanzania
Tanzania has grown at a fast rate to become the third biggest avocado supplier from Africa to Europe. European buyers are interested in Tanzania avocados, especially in the early and later parts of the season. This seasonal gap offers opportunities for avocado exporters from Tanzania, where the season begins in February. In September, when the season is ending, Tanzania is still exporting avocados to the European market.
Tanzania has become a preferred avocado exporter to Europe because of several factors. These factors include:
- Favorable climate for avocado farming
- Production costs are low
- The physical distance to the export market in Europe is reasonable
But quality problems have affected the reputation of Tanzania avocados. This is due to:
- The long transit times
- Issues in the supply chain
- The large number of out-growers (small holder farmers)
Small holder farming and compliance issues create many challenges in Tanzania. Exporters in Tanzania mainly source their avocados from small holder farms. But the technical assistance to these farms has improved greatly.
European buyers still encounter problems that affect the marketability of the fruit from Tanzania. Some of these issues include:
- Poor growing practices in wet periods increase the chance of Tanzania avocados being affected by anthracnose.
- The lack of homogeneity of the fruit makes ripening in Europe more difficult.
- Presence of quarantine pests in Tanzania.
- Some avocado exporters in Tanzania don’t comply with phytosanitary standards.
- Many small holder farmers don’t have Global G.A.P certification and other food safety and sustainability standards.
- Logistics is still a big problem. The transit time of Tanzania avocados is relatively long compared to other exporting countries. Most of the avocados for export have to travel a long way from the farms to the packing house and then to the port. Mombasa is the main port for avocados from Tanzania because the available shipping options at the port of Dar es Salaam are limited. Most freight lines have transhipments and there is no weekly, direct refrigerated container service. Since exporters have to send fruit with acceptable maturity, it makes it difficult to prevent it from ripening in transit.
Developments like refrigerated containers are needed to make the avocado supply from Tanzania more efficient and compatible with the demand in the international market. The Hass avocado variety is preferred in the market and stakeholders in the Tanzania avocado sector have started training farmers on quality production of the fruit.
Private investors are also expanding Tanzania’s avocado export capacity. Kuza Africa Company Ltd has set up a factory in Rungwe to manufacture avocado oil. The government of Tanzania has begun improving the Songwe International Airport in order to ease transportation of avocados by air.