The "Facts at a Glance" report produced by Avocados Australia provides data and insights about the Australian avocado supply chain. The data-driven research shows that the country's avocado industry is growing exponentially.

Australia's avocado production is not expected to slow down; on the contrary, production is forecast to increase strongly over the next few years, with around 170,000 tons per annum expected to be produced by 2026.

Production volume has increased to 150,913 tons this season after a slight drop last year. In total, avocado production in Australia has increased by 31%.

Most of the production is concentrated in Western Australia for FY2023/24, with a record volume of over 65,000 tons, representing 44% of the total volume produced domestically for the year. The next largest share came from Queensland, accounting for 42% of production.

Compared to the previous year, Western Australia's avocado production increased by 217%, while North and Central Queensland production decreased by 21% and 6%, respectively.

On average, across 2022/23 and 2023/24, production has mostly come from Queensland regions (53%) and Western Australia (32%).

Varieties

Australia's climate allows for avocado production year-round. According to the report, the eight major avocado-growing regions have a "wide climate range that allows for Hass and Shepard avocados to be harvested throughout the year."

Hass is the main avocado variety and is produced almost all year round. In 2023/24, Hass represented 82% of production, 6% higher than the previous year. Shepard comes in second and is harvested in Queensland, making up 15% of total production, a decrease of 4% from last year.

Shepard, however, remains the dominant Australian variety on the market.

The remaining 3% is made up of varieties including Maluma, Reed, Carmen, Lamb, Wurtz, Gem, Fuerte, Turner, Sharwil, Gwen, Edrinol, Pinkerton, Zutano, Bacon, Ryan, Ettinger, Sir Prize, Hazzard, Rincon, Llanos, Santana, Linda, Anaheim, and Nabal.

Exports

Over the last three years, total export volume has increased by around 600% to 21,979 tons, representing 14.56% of the total volume produced in Australia. Last year alone, Australia exported 21,979 tons, representing a 106% increase over the previous financial year. Export value has increased by 37.3 AUD million in just one year after staying around AUD 50 million for the past two seasons.

Domestic consumption has also seen an increase in the past three years to 4.94 kg per person, up 25%. Imported New Zealand fruit supplements Australian supply during the harvest season in spring and summer.

Although Australia is a small player in the global avocado market, the country is working to increase exports. Australia's current biggest importer of avocados is Hong Kong, followed by Singapore and Malaysia.