South Africa's record avocado production and increased South American competition mean the European market will be more challenging than normal this year.

South African Avocado Growers Association (SAAGA) technical manager Gerhard Nortjé told www.freshfruitportal.com an oversaturated U.S. market had led to lower prices for Peruvian exporters, who were now turning their attention across the Atlantic.

"Our main market is Europe, but we're now competing with the Peruvians. Extremely large volumes from Peru are being diverted to the EU due to an overful U.S. market," Nortjé said.

Despite the increased competition, Nortjé remained optimistic about the season saying the European market was still paying well.

"The market is fine – we're not close to overstocking the market there, so it's not a problem.

"From mid-August the market should be better due to lower volumes being available. We're getting good prices," he said.

Peru is South Africa's main competitor in Europe from May to the end of July, followed by Spain, which supplies the market from April to May.

In addition, Kenya supplies the EU predominantly with the Fuerte variety from April to May, while Chile sends consignments from September through to the end of the South African season.

Bumper avocado harvests are expected from South Africa this year thanks largely to continually increasing production hectarage and the resolution of some technical issues.

Nortjé said the country would likely export more than 13 million cartons for the first time.

"The industry's been growing by 500 hectares a year for the last couple of years, and now some of the ones that were planted three of four years ago are coming into production," Nortjé said.

"On the technical side we've also sorted out some production issues to do with irrigation, and we've sorted out our alternative crop production.

"It's been a combination of things, so it's actually a positive year for us - a good crop season."

Nortjé also said new varieties had recently become commercially available to South African growers since last year, namely the Gem and Harvest cultivars; both are very similar to the Hass avocado but are harvested later in the season.

The Maluma variety was also released a few years ago and is currently making excellent progress throughout the globe.

"Gems look a bit different to Hass, but the size is often a bit bigger. It tastes the same the same as Maluma," Nortjé said.

In terms of seeking new export destinations for South Africa, Nortjé explained strong efforts were being made both to open up several key markets and expand upon existing ones.

"We've been conducting research for the last seven or eight years for market access to the U.S., China the Middle East and also to Scandinavian countries," he said.

"But we're not going to leave the European market - we're going to expand there, moving more into Eastern Europe."

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