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Chile's Hass Avocado Committee, together with its commercial partners in China, are kicking off an extensive promotional and marketing campaign across the major cities to encourage consumption of the fruit, highlighting its quality and health benefits.

Avocado consumption has been growing rapidly in China over recent years. The phenomenon can be explained by consumers' greater awareness of the fruit, which has been gradually incorporated into the population's diet.

As well as valuing the excellent taste, consumers' rising preference toward healthy and nutritious foods has been on the upswing, especially among young people and women. 

It should be noted that Chilean avocados are a premium product, certified under the most demanding international protocols and grown naturally in the fertile vallies of Chile's central areas.

Chile is one of the main producers and exporters of avocado in the world. This year it is estimated that avocado production will grow by 8.8%, reaching 245,000 metric tons (MT), of which almost 70% will be exported, mainly to Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

One of the key competitive advantages of Chilean avocados is their quality and taste, which are achieved thanks to a privileged geography and climate for the prodcution of this fruit, and because the trees are harvested when the avocados have at least 23% dry matter, guaranteeing its good conditions for post harvest and export.

In the case of China, exports of Hass avocado from Chile to this market have been increasing annually, rising from 3,967MT in the 2015-16 season, to 11,080MT in 2016-17, to 14,859MT last season.

For this current campaign, Chile is expecting to export around 17,500MT of avocados to China, which would mark a rise of 18% year-on-year.

It is for this reason tha the Hass Avocado Committee is in November kicking off an extensive promotional campaign in China's main supermarket chains and fresh fruit stores. The campaign will be focused on the five main cities: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu.

As well as point-of-sales materials in stores, there will be activities in restaurants, gyms and wellness centers, in parallel to a campaign on social media and e-commerce platforms.

The promotion will be focused on four main groups: children, sportspeople or 'wellness-lovers', pregnant women and the elderly, highlighting the advantages that avocados have for the needs of each group.

For example, in the case of pregnant women, the campaign will demonstrate that the avocado is a superfood that contains Omega 3 and folic acid, which aid babies' development.

"We are very pleased to provide Chinese consumers with a natural food of excellent taste, great nutritional value and wonderful benefit for one's health" said Francisco Contardo, general manager of the Chilean Hass Avocado Committee, who is currently in China for the launch of the campaign this season.

"Avocados are easy to prepare and can be consumed in various formats: in salads, smoothies, soup, sandwiches, guacamole, sushi, etcetera.

"Chilean avocados, just like the country's wine, salmon, cherries and other products, have had a great acceptance and have become ambassador products for Chile in the Chinese market."