Mission expects worldwide avocado demand to continue to grow
Mission expects worldwide avocado demand to continue to grow
Though the U.S. market remains the primary focus for the marketing and distribution of its avocados, Oxnard, CA-based Mission Produce sees plenty of opportunities for growth in other parts of the world.
“We have our eyes set on the potential offered by under-indexed regions, such as Asia and Europe,” said Brooke Becker, vice president of sales. “We’ve invested in state-of-the-art infrastructure in key markets around the world to stay on top of global demand trends and drive the consumption of avocados globally.”
Becker’s optimism is based on low per capita consumption levels in those underdeveloped avocado markets. “While the U.S. is reaching a per capita consumption of almost 9-pounds, the latest data from FruiTrop shows that Europe and the UK were only at 3.5-pounds, and China was at 1.3-pounds in 2022, among households with an annual income of $35,000 or more, so there is a lot of room to grow,” she said.
To keep supply in sync with demand, Mission is looking at several different sourcing options around the globe, including Guatemala, South Africa and Colombia. Becker said with the anticipated USDA approval of Guatemala as an exporter of avocados to the United States, the Central American country offers great potential.
“We’re already seeing substantial plantings in the region and expect Guatemala’s production to grow rapidly once market access is granted,” she said, noting that Mission began its own farming operations there in 2020. “So far, we’ve developed 1,800 acres of avocados, and have been working with local growers to ship Guatemalan avocados to the European market,”
In Colombia, Mission Produce has planted 1,700 acres of avocado trees that are still maturing to peak production.
“In the last couple years, we’ve been seeing increased acceptance for Colombian avocados into the United States, which is an exciting development because the region’s seasonality gives more options to supply customer programs with high-quality fruit year-round,” Becker said.
And just last year, Mission invested in a venture to develop avocado orchards in Limpopo, South Africa. “With their season starting one to two months before Peru, South Africa has been a strategic growing region to promote a year-round supply of avocados to our customers in Europe and the UK,” she said.
Mission Produce claims to have the world’s most advanced avocado network, with more than a dozen countries of origin, and access to 19 state-of-the-art ripening and distribution centers around the world, which allows it to sell and distribute avocados to customers in 27 countries.
“By leveraging the distinct seasons and climates of each region, we have established multiple sources of supply for avocados year-round– an effective strategy to fill in supply gaps with two or more origins,” Becker said.
The Mission executive touted the company’s in-house marketplace intelligence and expert category management programs as the key difference makers that sets it apart as a strategic partner dedicated to driving avocado consumption.
Asked to comment on the state of the organic avocado sector, Becker said it continues to outperform the growth of conventional avocados and the growth of organic produce overall. “From 2023 to 2024, organic avocados grew by 19 percent in volume in the United States, and we believe the category will continue to rise as an important, and revenue-generating, sector at retail.”
She added that the organic avocado shopper spends 89 percent more on avocados a year than conventional avocado shoppers.
“So, marketing to this target demographic is an important strategy at retail,” Becker said. “Mission Produce offers various organic bagged and bulk offerings to support the pull through of organic products in-store, and our expert category management program helps our customers determine the most effective product mix to meet each store’s organic demand.”
Helping Mission accomplish that task, according to Becker, is the company’s proprietary category management program, AvoIntel, which brings more in-depth market share strategy programs to our partners to drive sales at retail.
