The 2011 avocado season has started for New Zealand’s largest avocado post-harvest operator, Apata Limited, with its first trays of class 1 Hass avocados now packed and ready for export to Australia.
Apata national avocado manager Therese Temple says she is looking forward to this season’s harvest and Apata’s capacity and expertise to pack the bumper crop means it will run smoothly.
“Because we have the best harvesting operating systems and technology in the country to manage avocados with, we will be busy but not overwhelmed. This year is an early start and has the added advantage of being able to supply Australia first up, as well as the US and Japan,” says Therese. “Looking back over historic dry matter results allows Apata to have a line up of fruit available to meet the flow plan requirements of our marketers, Primor.
“We have two sites dedicated to avocados – one in the Bay of Plenty, the other in Whangarei. We are expecting to pack 500 bins in the first week, increasing to as high as 1,400 bins within a few weeks, and we will pack more than 1,000 bins of avocados per week for the remainder of the season. We are talking about huge volumes. These bin numbers equate to just over one million trays of export fruit for the season, which is massive and will be cause for celebration.”
The Avocado Industry Council has predicted that approximately 5.7 million trays of avocado will be picked and packed this season. Primor will export one-third of the avocado market share.
