“We attribute the increase in consumption of Hass avocado to several factors: increased demand for healthy foods and lifestyle…”
Ligia Falanghe Carvalho is the HR and marketing director at Jaguacy Brasil, and graduated in marketing from Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing – ESPM.
Jaguacy is Brazil’s largest producer and exporter of avocados, and accounts for nearly 80% of Brazilian avocado shipments.
Ligia Carvalho, HR and marketing director at Jaguacy Brasil
AgriBrasilis – What is the difference between the common avocado and the Hass variety?
Ligia Falanghe – Tropical avocados and Hass are all varieties of avocado. Tropical avocados are larger, with smooth skin, intense green and are better known by Brazilians.
The Hass avocado is a slightly different variety, with a rough skin and buttery pulp. When it matures, the color of the skin changes, becoming purplish brown.
Another difference between these fruits is the concentration of water: tropical avocados have five times more water than Hass avocados.
AgriBrasilis – Have Brazilians already incorporated the habit of consuming Hass avocados?
Ligia Falanghe – Brazilians are discovering not only the Hass variety, but also tropical avocados in general. The versatility of use in savory dishes is helping to increase internal consumption, but we still have the memory of using avocado only in sweeter dishes and smoothies.
AgriBrasilis – What contributed to the 800% growth in the cultivation of the Hass variety in Brazil? Will this growth continue?
Ligia Falanghe – We attribute the increase in consumption of Hass to several factors: increased demand for healthy foods and lifestyle, increase in Latin restaurants in the southeast region, that served to “introduce” avocado as a salty dish to Brazilians, the possibility of profitability with exports, and the visibility of the fruit on social media platforms.
AgriBrasilis – To what countries is the Brazilian Hass avocado exported to?
Ligia Falanghe – Today, Brazil is in the process of opening up to Chile, the USA and Japan, and already exports to the European Community, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.
AgriBrasilis – What pests and diseases affect the crop?
Ligia Falanghe – The main avocado pest is Stenoma catenifer, and the main disease is root rot or gummosis, caused by the fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi.
AgriBrasilis – Could you talk about the ready-to-eat avocado oil and guacamole market? What other trends are there in the industry?
Ligia Falanghe – The trend with the increase in the volume of fruits is that there is also an increase in the supply of Avocado-based by-products. Thus, the market tendency is to have the oil extracted from the pulp, and also to offer ready meals like guacamole.
Brazilians are open to experimentation and healthy products, that have good nutritional properties. So, in the coming years there may be a demand and increased consumption of these by-products because of the change in lifestyle and nutritional appeal.
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