Growing demand for avocado prompts Spanish producers to expand cultivation surfaces

Spanish avocado production covers only 9 percent of total European demand. The demand for the fruit in Spain is growing every year.

To respond to the demand, avocado cultivation in Spain is being expanded in areas with a mild, frost-free climate, such as Huelva, with some 1.000 new hectares, Cádiz with 1.260 hectares and 2.300 hectares in the Valencian Community, which are added to those already existing in the Canary Islands (2.000 ha), Malaga and Granada-Costa (15.000 ha).

Spain is a producer, importer and re-exporter of avocado. Due to this, ASAJA's tropical sector (Asaja Agrarian Association of Young Farmers) insists on the creation of a label that can verify the origin of provenance and traceability of the fruit.

This year, avocado sales reached 170 million euros, which means a decrease of 6.6 % compared to the 2019/20 campaign in which they achieved 182 million euros. This decrease is due to a 25 % drop (61.500 tons) in national production, driven by the heat last August, compared to the 81.000 tons registered in the previous year.

However, the producers managed to compensate for the drop in production thanks to the fact that prices at origin were higher than those of the previous season. The price of Hass avocado in 2020 was between 2.20 and 2.65 euros per kilo, this season it is between 2.50 and 3.20 euros per kilo. Green-skinned avocados have had average prices between 1.34 and 2.30 euros per kilo. It is worth mentioning that Lamb Hass sales at the end of the season and organic production had higher prices.