PERU BECOMES THE LARGEST AVOCADO SUPPLIER TO THE JAPANESE MARKET

Pico Agriviet

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan, Peru became the largest supplier in June with a 64% market share, and in July with a 73% market share. The continuous growth in demand for avocados in Japan over the last few years has increased import volumes substantially since 2016, with an average growth rate of 13% per year. However, in 2020, the upward trend stopped due to shortages of Mexican avocados in the Japanese market as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced Mexican exports to focus on the US market.

The Mexican avocado shortage in the Asian market favored Peru in 2020, as Mexico had to increase Peruvian avocado imports to meet growing domestic demand. As a result, in 2020, Japan imported 8.5 thousand mt of Peruvian avocado for a value of USD 24 million, which is 87 % more in volume and 68% more in value compared to 2019.

In June 2022, Peruvian avocados played a more prominent role in the Japanese import avocado movement in the market due to a more affordable price than in Mexico. In the first half of 2022, avocado imports from Mexico to Japan decreased, making prices reach the highest levels in years.

According to Yuta Watanabe, Tridge’s Distribution Manager in Japan, in order to control the high avocado prices, Japan imported more Peruvian avocados in June and July 2022. “The increase in Peruvian avocado imports in these two months has created an oversupply in the market. As a result, Peruvian avocado wholesale prices in Japan dropped by 40% during July”, he explained.

He added, “Japanese supermarkets and retail stores did not lower their avocado prices because they do not anticipate that demand in Japan will recover in the short term, even if they sell at lower prices.”

Peruvian arrivals during early July resulted in an over-supply to the Japanese market, leading to import-avocado-movement to a downtrend week by week. The market expects this downtrend to continue during August and its recovery in September due to inventories still being 3 to 4 weeks old and the lack of a specific trigger, enough to revive consumption, which had shrunk once.

Japan has become the second-largest market for Peru’s avocados, with exports growing by a yearly average of 63% between 2016 and 2019, a trend that is expected to continue. In 2021, of the 18.5 thousand mt sent to Asia, 53% went to China, 25% went to Japan, 20% went to Hong Kong, and India and UAE each received 2%. Peru exported USD 48.7 million in avocados to these markets with all shipments combined. Thus, the substantial increase in the Japanese market is emblematic of Peru’s efforts to increase its avocado exports to Asia.

Source: https://www.tridge.com/stories/peru-becomes-the-largest-avocado-supplier-to-the-japanese-market

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