A new technique to grow avocados faster means that shortages of this popular fruit might soon be a thing of the past.

The temperate southern coast of the Western Cape stands on the cusp of a big avocado expansion, says Dr Guy Witney, independent agricultural consultant and avocado project manager for Moolman Farms, as the revenue potential of off-season avocados from late areas becomes clear.

The world’s appetite for avocados just keeps growing. Business in Colombia is booming, with experts predicting the country could become the world’s second largest exporter of the Hass variety over the next 10 years, after Mexico.

A U.K.-based fruit supplier says that the end of the Peruvian avocado season in Europe will lead to improved market conditions, following a protracted period of oversupply and low prices.

At this year’s annual Subtrop marketing symposium for the subtropical fruit industry, speakers made reference to the consistent growth in global demand for, in particular, avocados, but cautioned that continuous promotion and consumer education campaigns were an essential part of maintaining this growth.

Avocados, the soft, green superfood may be falling out of favour with some restaurants in Britain as they move to ban the trendy food from their menus, amid environmental and land concerns.

2018 was an ‘on year’ for the avocado. The UK and Europe alone consumed over 650 million kilos of avocados and the European avocado market remains one of the fastest growing markets worldwide.

Avocado goes on toast, in a smoothie, and yes, on pizza.

The initial estimate for the 2018/2019 avocado season is between 15.5 and 16 million equivalent 4kg cartons, says Derek Donkin, CEO of umbrella body Subtrop. That is a reduction of around 6 million cartons on last year’s record crop, due partly to unfavourable weather conditions.

South Africa has opened its 2019/19 avocado season, one that will not repeat what has been called the “astronomical increase” (or “an inundation of avocados”) of last year.

What will the supply of avocados to China look like in a decade's time? Will it still tilt almost entirely to Latin America? Or could it have a strong African component?

A couple of years ago, following the whole avocado toast thing, there was a trend of eating the pit (technically a seed). People would dry them out, chop or blend them into a powder, and treat them basically as a supplement, full of fiber and antioxidants. Now, research indicates that the avocado pit has some other impressive properties.

South Africa is one of the world’s major avocado producers, coming in at 12th place on the global scale. The country’s export market could soon be worse for wear however, as some countries and cafés are banning the green subtropical fruit.

Not many agricultural subsectors are a testimony to the export-led growth ambition that the South African government is currently focusing on such as avocados.

There has been a revolution in the Kenyan avocado export market, characterized by enormous growth over the past three years. After remaining a relatively small exporter of avocado for a prolonged period, Kenya has now overtaken South Africa to be the leading exporter of avocado in the continent and the seventh largest in the world.

The avocado market has changed a lot in Europe. While it is normally quieter in the summer, this is not the case now due to a shortage of the fruit. The lack of avocados on the European market is a consequence of the situation in the United States.

Global avocado market report from IndexBox highlights growth in production and exports

Avocado consumption continues to grow at a remarkable rate across the world. This is according to the latest report by IndexBox.

The production of avocados is shifting from the southern hemisphere to the north.

Avocado production in Africa could grow as significantly and rapidly as in Colombia over recent years, according to a representative of Westfalia Fruit.