Chilean avocado might land in Australia as early as 2021

Chilean avocado producers are a step closer to gaining access to the Australian market. The final report published by the Australian government on pest control recommends allowing imports of fresh avocado to Australia from all commercial production areas of Chile, subject to a range of biosecurity requirements. Those requirements include a range of risk management measures combined with an operational system. This includes the proviso that all fruit be free of Mediterranean fruit fly and the hard condition of fruit for the Hass cultivar only. This means the fruit is deliberately detached from healthy branches of living trees and shows no signs of softening or spotted area, or of having any areas of breakdown or broken skin.

Chile might gain access as early as 2021. However, Australia continues to expand its own production of the fruit, meaning it is unlikely that this market will be as important as the European, US and Chinese ones for Chilean producers.