South Africa's avocado growers produced and exported more fruit in 2026 but did not earn more for it. Exports reached 21 million cartons, 16% more than the year before on good growing conditions, while sharply higher freight rates and a stronger rand wiped out the gain from slightly better euro prices, speakers told the South African Subtropical Growers' Association (Subtrop) marketing symposium in Skukuza, Mpumalanga.
Tracy Davids, a director at the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy, showed how exposed growers are to small price moves. A fall of R10 on a 4kg carton, about EUR0.50, can cut farmgate revenue by around R17,000 a hectare, at a time when input costs have generally risen faster than inflation and farm commodity prices.
Export prices fell 16% year on year in 2025, Davids said, after average annual growth of 8% between 2021 and 2025. Peru remained the dominant supplier in South Africa's marketing window, and this year fruit from Peru and Brazil reached the European Union earlier than usual, oversupplying it by week 17, while Kenya, Morocco and Spain also produced more.
Margins are still healthy, she said, and EU demand is still growing. But dependence on the EU and UK is a risk as rules on pesticide residue limits and packaging tighten, and closer alignment of British and European rules could add to the compliance burden. With little room to plant more, future growth will have to come from higher yields, less alternate bearing and better pack-out. "The movement of produce from farms to vessels is a major source of cost, risk, and uncertainty, which ultimately reduces farm returns," she said, calling for better infrastructure and port performance.
Edrean Ernst, chair of Subtrop and director of information systems at Allesbeste, made the same point in an address read by Subtrop chief executive Derek Donkin. New market access does not always mean sales: India and China have taken only a handful of containers, and India's 30% import tariff remains an obstacle. "Growing more fruit is no longer our main challenge. Selling it well is," Ernst said.
Shipments to Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines are growing but remain small. The report is by Lindi Botha.
Photo: Edrean / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Farmers Weekly South Africa
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