China is hungry for avocados, and South Africa is ready to deliver as export deal gets the green light

But leading the way with avocados is also a win for China, where health-conscious consumers have a growing appetite for the fruit.

According to Derek Donkin, chief executive of the South African Subtropical Growers’ Association (Subtrop), the final registration of avocado orchards and packhouses is under way, with hopes that the first shipment will set off next month.

“A number of South Africa’s major exporters have already set up the necessary business contacts in China to be able to export as soon as the official requirements are met,” Donkin said.

It comes at a time when the South African avocado industry is expanding – in recent years it has grown by 4,750 hectares (11,737 acres) to a total of more than 18,000 hectares. Donkin said that as the industry grows, it sees China as a huge untapped market.

The deal to export avocados to China was first signed last year when South African Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Brics summit – an association of the five major emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The South African avocado trade deal was signed on the sidelines of the Brics summit in August last year. Photo: Reuters

“Gaining access to China is a vital step in driving an export-led growth for the South African avocados,” Didiza said at the time.

China looks to become one of the world’s major consumers of avocados, something which offers an immense opportunity for the South African industry, Didiza said.

“This will have a multiplication effect which will have growth in employment, skills and economic development, in particular [in] the rural areas of our country where the majority of avocados are produced,” she said.

South Africa is a significant producer of the fruit, growing just over 130,000 tonnes a year, according to Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz). He said roughly half of this is for export markets.

Currently, it exports its avocados to Europe, the Middle East and the African continent.

“China is a new and exciting market,” Sihlobo said. “The South African farmers will benefit from the access to [China’s] growing market.”

South Africa is China’s top trading partner on the continent, with minerals such as gold, diamonds, iron ore, manganese and chromium making up most of its exports. It is also a major exporter of citrus fruits, grapes, apples and pears to China.

Two-way trade last year stood at US$55.62 billion – about a fifth of the total China-Africa trade that year – with South African exports to the Chinese market accounting for US$31.97 billion.

Agriculture has become the new focus of China’s engagement with Africa, with its list of food imports now including avocados, pineapples, chillies, cashews, sesame seeds and spices.

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Lauren Johnston, an associate professor at the University of Sydney’s China Studies Centre, said avocado demand in China is growing due to a new health-conscious middle class.

“There is presumably plenty of demand, avocados being a superfood,” she said, while noting that as the trees have intensive water requirements, it would be a relatively poor choice of crop for China to grow.

Fortunately, avocados are easy to export because they carry few risks of pests and are already being exported to Western markets, she said.

“So they are a low-hanging export fruit and a win for the push to increase agricultural productivity, raising rural incomes and elevating food security and choice in China,” Johnston said.

China has strict sanitary and phytosanitary standards for fresh produce, which is why it takes a long time to successfully negotiate agricultural export deals. It took more than two years for Kenya’s avocado farmers to comply with the Chinese requirements.

According to Johnston, it is likely China has some unmet demand for the fruit, and it also wants to further its agricultural growth goals and sustained trade balance issues, so adding South Africa into the mix makes sense.

South Africa joins a highly select group of countries able to export avocados to this burgeoning market.

Kenya was given access to export frozen avocados in 2019, but this caused issues as most farmers could not afford freezing equipment. The deal was renegotiated to include fresh fruit in 2022.

Meanwhile, Tanzania became the second African country to export fresh avocados to China in 2022 under a deal signed during President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s state visit to Beijing.

Outside Africa, the only countries that may export avocados to China are Peru (its top supplier), Chile, Mexico, the Philippines, Colombia, New Zealand, Vietnam and the US.

South China Morning Post