According to Healthy Avocado, Mexico is the world's largest avocado supplier, cultivating 144,000 hectares of the fruit. The Latin American country also benefits from a growing environment that allows each avocado tree to produce four blooms, making its harvest season almost year round.
They are grown in QLD, NSW,VIC, SA and WA. Hass avocados are usually available May to February while Shepard avocados are only available from February to May.
Unsurprisingly, Americans are heavily reliant on Mexico for our avocado fix. Produce Pay reports that 44% of the country's avocados are exported, with 85% of Michoacán avocados being sent to the U.S. annually.
Based on the Tablelands, Howe Farming supplies Coles with over four million avocados annually, mainly the popular Hass variety and the lesser-known Shepard (those with the smoother glossy green skin).
Avocado production in Australia
Australia imports avocados from New Zealand, mainly from September to March, which supplements the Australian supply during the spring/summer harvest season.
A combination of increased supply and reduced demand — slashed by months-long lockdowns that shuttered cafes in Sydney and Melbourne — has sent the supermarket price of an avocado plummeting to about 60 cents.
Currently, Hass avocados from Mexico account for more than 90% of all imported avocados in the country.
Aldi keeps produce prices low by buying locally, saving on transportation costs, and only selling pre-packaged items eliminating the need for scales, and cutting back on needing employees to regularly cull produce for bruised items. Aldi produce, as with most of their store is designed to be the best price in town.
Mexico harvested about 2.4 million tons of avocados in 2021, making that country the top producer of avocados worldwide.
The Hass variety is the predominant avocado produced in Australia, accounting for approximately 81 per cent production, with Shepard accounting for about 16 per cent. Other varieties such as Reed, Sharwil, Gwen, Wurtz and Fuerte make up the balance.
Increased production, particularly in Queensland, led to a record A$55.1 million of avocado exports in 2022. Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia are Australia's major avocado markets. Producers are seeking to establish new markets, including in Japan and now India.
Where avocados grow best has always been Mexico. Archaeologists have even discovered avocado remnants in Mexico that are more than 10,000 years old. It's no wonder, then, why the fruit has always been such a fixed part of Mexican culture and cuisine.
Avocados are grown commercially in Western Australia from Carnarvon in the north to Albany in the south.
Avocados are produced all the way from Mt Tamborine in the south to the Atherton Tablelands in the north. The largest avocado growing regions in the state are North and Central Queensland. Brisbane is home to peak industry body, Avocados Australia Limited.
Last year about 24,700 tonnes of fresh and dried avocados entered the country — a 64 per cent jump in imports from 2019. Most avocado imports come from New Zealand and fill a gap in the market during Australia's slower production months. For the first time last year, avocados from Chile were also imported.
The best avocado in the world comes from Peru and is called Hass - Westfalia Fruit.
Mexico is the largest producer and exporter of avocados in the world, with the United States as its main commercial client, a country to which avocado exports have grown enormously in recent years.
More importantly, Reed avocados are often celebrated as the best-tasting avocado variety thanks to their rich, nutty flavor. Reed avocados are classified as type A avocados, meaning their skin remains green even when ripe. Type B avocados like Hass become very dark, almost black, when ripe.
“The cost of putting that stuff in a package, including the labour and the cost of packaging and the cost of transport is just not worthwhile,” he said. “So the option is just to dump it. “It's not only cheaper (to throw it away), you just can't afford to put the labour into packing.
Avocado crops, particularly Hass type varieties, can suffer from having small fruit. This is associated with stress which increases the proportion of small fruit on the tree.
Owing to its taste, size, shelf-life, high growing yield and in some areas, year-round harvesting, the Hass cultivar is the most commercially popular avocado worldwide.
Hass avocados have a higher oil percentage (usually around 18 percent) making the texture more creamy, and is therefore considered as the preferred variety. Indian avocados on the other hand have a lower oil percentage (around 12 percent) making the texture slightly less creamy but a little more nutty in flavour.
Florida avocados are the larger, smooth-skinned choices. California avocados sold in supermarkets are the Hass variety, and are smaller and have a pebbly skin that turns from green to a purplish-black when ripe. The biggest nutritional difference between California and Florida avocados is their fat content.
The United States is a net importer of avocados from Mexico. Mexico supplied most of the avocados imported into the United States in 2021. In 2021 the United States imported $3 billion in fresh avocados and exported approximately $31 million in fresh avocados (ERS 2021).