Brad Siebert, chief executive of New Zealand Avocados, said Kiwi shoppers can expect to enjoy high-quality avocados at affordable prices as the new 2025/2026 season gets underway.
With strong harvest forecasts since picking began last month, the season is set to continue into summer.
“Consumers will be seeing some pretty good avocados on the shelf at the moment,” Siebert said.
He said the harvest began in July to prioritise the local market initially, with exports expected to ramp up fully in the coming months.
For this new season, the industry group, which includes 1,400 orchards, expects a harvest of 6.5 million trays of fruit, with more than half of the produce slated for export.
Siebert said the weather conditions have improved this year.
“The weather has been better. The last two years it had some real impact on growers’ returns, as the export volume of fruit has been dramatically down and the pack-out rate, or the class-one [fruit] available for export, has been reduced, but we’re seeing [that] diversification creates opportunities to send to a diverse set of countries.”
According to Siebert, avocado exporters have expanded their markets in recent years beyond their main market, Australia, which has proven successful for them.
While Australia has traditionally been the largest export market, competition within the country has been increasing.
“One of the exciting parts of that is the diversification the industry’s seen and the export markets, with Asia historically seen around 8% of their volumes [but] now representing 37% of our export revenue.”
“Historically, sometimes up to 85% of the export crop went to Australia and the eastern seaboard, where the seasonal competitor there being Western Australia.”
“Consumption continues to grow in Australia, thankfully, but so does the production out of Western Australia.”
Siebert also mentioned the strong demand for avocados in New Zealand, with Kiwis consuming the fruit at a relatively high per capita rate. Capitalising on this demand will depend on how retail opportunities are maximised and on educating consumers.