As Chinese consumers gradually get a taste for avocados and imports continue to rise exponentially from Latin America, there is another growing region with its eyes on the prize. It's been 11 years since the California Avocado Commission (CAC) applied for Chinese market access but only now are exporters starting to feel like a breakthrough is on the horizon.

"Back in the 80s the California Avocado Commission worked to establish California avocados in Japan, so there’s some history in developing markets in Asia," said the group's vice president of marketing Jan DeLyser during Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong this week.

She said the Japanese development was successful, but it "backed off a little bit" due to such strong growth in U.S. demand during the 1990s and 2000s.

Ken Melban and Jan DeLyser representing the California avocado industry at Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong.

The Japanese market has picked up again however, especially over the last five years.

"It’s still a minor percentage of our overall volume but there’s a real cache with California products in general and I think the California avocado sits really nicely into that," DeLeyser said.

"I think the opportunities for California in Asia are very similar to the opportunities in the U.S., other than the fact we won’t be the local avocado as we are in the U.S.

"What we will have is the consistency of quality when a consumer cuts open the avocado."

The next markets

The next big potential development is China, said the CAC's vice president of industry affairs, Ken Melban.

"We’ve seen some good progress of late – we actually had AQSIQ (China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine) out for a visit in May of this year, and the next step is we are waiting on a draft work plan from AQSIQ to APHIS (U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service)," Melban said.

"We will work that out and once it’s agreeable, we’ll have access. Things are moving but there are no guarantees until it’s done.

"We expect the work plan will be fairly reasonable. They did identify a couple of pests – one was a mealybug and one was a latania scale, but both of those are present in China so those are non-actionable pests in our opinion and we believe that AQSIQ will determine the same."

He said the protocol would most likely involve sorting on lines to ensure only the highest quality fruit would go to China, and then it would be "smooth sailing" after inspections from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) at every packing house that's certified for export.

"I am cautiously optimistic that sometime next season we could have a work plan in place," Melban said.

"I was actually just meeting with two Chinese importers who are very interested and waiting the finalization of the work plan so they can start to bring Californian avocado in.

"We think California avocados have a great opportunity to demonstrate the high quality that we have. Frankly, we will be the shortest transit time compared to the other avocado-producing countries so I think that bodes well, and the shelf life of our fruit is very good," he said, clarifying the journey from Los Angeles to Shanghai took around two weeks.

The majority of shipments would most likely take place by seafreight, with an initial focus on the markets of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

And it is not just China where the commission is looking to break new ground. Earlier this year, Melban submitted a petition to APHIS expressing interest in opening up the Indian and Thai markets.

"We’re excited about that so we’ll continue to go through that process. The first step is to develop a pest risk assessment between the two countries and determine the pests of concern, and once there’s agreement there we can determine treatment measures," he said.

Melban can only hope it doesn't take 11 years for those two markets to open up.

New learnings ahead for understanding Asian consumers

DeLeyser said the role of a group like the California Avocado Commission was to work with retailers and foodservice companies to come up with usage ideas that incorporate the state's Hass avocados into local diets.

"We’re really here to learn about what their perceptions are of avocados generally as a category and then where the opportunities might lie for California specifically," she said.

One challenge raised by an avocado exporter present at the fair was the fact many Chinese people had a tendency to only buy the vegetables they'd need for cooking on the day of purchase. In that context, an avocado that needs a few days to ripen simply won't be fit the bill.

On the other hand, the cold chain is not always as a trader would expect in North America or Europe - cold chains disrupted by doors left open, sales coming from the back of trucks with no refrigeration, and often a lack of ripening facilities; these are not uncommon occurrences in China.

"I think we can have learning from our experience where ripening programs were developed in the United States – we’d have to do research on what the realities are here as far as cold chain, transportation, and have a good understanding," DeLeyser said.

"In my time here I’ve heard there is a preference for a firmer, crunchier fruit. People enjoy biting into a fruit, so that creamy ripe avocado that’s so popular in the States may not be the best way to go here, but it’s got to be ripe enough so they can enjoy it and eat it. We’re going to have to do research.

She said tests will need to be done to determine the right stage of ripeness given the fact "the cold chain is what it is".

"We were just in Tokyo on the way here and we spent some time in stores, and we stopped at a restaurant and we had a dish that had a small, half avocado," she said.

"It was firm, I wouldn’t call it crunchy, but the flavor was good. It was firmer than what I would have eaten at home but it was okay."

She said the representation of avocados on Japanese menus was "fabulous", not just in sushi but in salads and a range of other dishes.

Now the big task will be to see how the item can be incorporated into Chinese, Thai and Indian cuisine. No doubt, the classic California sushi roll is not the only culinary innovation up the sector's sleeve.

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