One of the challenges and wonders of most avocado trees is that they produce on somewhat of an alternate-year bases. A light crop one year is often followed by a much heavier one.

“Fortunately for avocados from Chile, since last year was a light year, we expect much more fruit in the pipeline for 2015-16,” said Karen Brux, managing director North America of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association.

For the 2014-15 marketing season, Chile had a total volume of 130,000 tons, which equates to 260 million pounds. This season, the crop has been estimated at 195,000 tons, or 390 million pounds, which represents nearly a 45 percent increase. Brux said the current projection for volume to the United States is 100 million pounds, significantly higher than last season.  

“We expect to have fruit in the U.S. market by September with a strong promotion push starting late September/early October and continuing through March of  2016,”  Brux said, adding that Chilean avocados have always had a strong following on the West Coast so volumes to this region are consequently higher. But “we have customers throughout the U.S., so we ship to both coasts. There are many retailers who appreciate the high quality offered by Avocados from Chile, but they want a consistent supply. Our goal is to support our customers throughout the Chilean avocado season, from the start to the finish.”

California isn’t the only avocado-producing region suffering from drought as Chile has had five years of limited rain, and several frosts, resulting in decreased avocado supplies during that time period.  “Fortunately, we haven’t had any frosts this year,” she said.  “Overall, it’s been a good year.”

Another very important factor influencing shipments of Chilean avocados to the United States is its own domestic market as well as the development of other export markets. When Chile began shipping fruit into the United States, the U.S. market was the main outlet for the fruit. Brux said now Chile’s own domestic market takes the highest percentage of its production with Europe being its best export market.

Domestically, she said both demand and pricing are very strong. “Chile's per capita consumption of avocados has reached five kilos (11 pounds),” she noted, adding that the vast majority of avocados sold in Chile are domestically grown, but when it is a low volume year for Chilean avocados, there is some foreign avocados in limited volume.  

“Over the past few years, Europe has grown to be Chile’s largest export market, with the U.S. following,” Brux said.  “Argentina is growing as a market and takes around 5 to 10 percent of the Chilean avocado crop. An area of great opportunity for Avocados from Chile is China.  The market just opened last year and avocados are still a very foreign fruit, but there’s a strong demand for clean, green, healthy foods in China. With the right distribution and good marketing, avocados could become a major success story in this market. Chile will be shipping more containers to China this year, and the market will continue to grow.”

Conducting this interview in mid-July, two months before Chile was to ship its first fruit to the United States, Brux said promotional programs were still in the planning stages. “Our goal is to give each retailer the promotional support that is most effective for them, so when our retail promotions kick off, you can expect to see many different tactics. This will likely include partner demos, specialized display materials, display/sales contests and social media promotions.”

The social media efforts will be new for this year. “In order to be very targeted with our marketing messages, for the first time ever, Avocados from Chile will be launching a digital marketing program,” she said. “Details are still being finalized, but we will go into our key markets and use digital zip technology to target neighborhoods that match our target audience profile. Highly targeted display ads and interactive videos will put Avocados from Chile front and center with our key audiences.”

Brux continued:  “We’re also going to take social media to the next level and run numerous promotions throughout our season. We’ll be partnering with popular food and lifestyle bloggers to deliver compelling information about the wonderful origins of Avocados from Chile, their superior taste and versatility, and numerous health benefits. We’ve always told the story of avocados, but this year we’ll focus more on the story of CHILEAN avocados… the people who grow the avocados, the regions where the avocados are grown, the growing methods that make Avocados from Chile unique.  Videos, photos and other marketing pieces will bring this story to life.”