Kenya has joined the top league of major avocado exporters in the world according to figures from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO).
Kenya features in the list of 15 leading avocado exporters with this global ranking led by Mexico with 2.4 million tons of production, followed by Colombia with 980,000 tons, Peru with 772000 tons, Indonesia at 669,000 tons, and the Dominican Republic with 634,000 tons.
The East African nation is the leading avocado exporter in Africa with a production of 417,000 tons followed by Ethiopia which produced 152,000 tons in 2022.
Kenya Eyes India as a New Export Destination for Avocado
However, Kenya is poised to increase its production in the coming months as the country eyes new opportunities in India-its latest export market and plans to double its avocado production in the next five years. Kenya also intends to increase farming land under avocado from the current 26,000 ha to more than 50,000 ha.
As an emerging supplier of avocado to global markets, the country has invested heavily in this fruit’s cultivation and significantly increased the area expansion for avocados in recent years, nearly tripling the harvested area since 2015, to 25 918 ha in 2021, as indicated by the latest official production data reported to FAO in 2022.
More than half of Kenya’s exports are supplied to European Union markets, where the country has been able to compete well on account of very low average export unit values.
Despite upward pressure on prices due to rising production costs, these values continued to range around US$ 1 200 over the first eight months of 2022, some 14% lower than the average unit values of shipments from such counties as Peru to the European Union.
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