China Daily Overseas Edition reported on February 28 that fresh avocados produced in Kenya will enter the Chinese market after strict pest and disease risk analysis by the phytosanitary inspection and quarantine departments of China and Kenya. There is no doubt that the demand for avocado sorting and packaging lines in fruit packaging plants will increase significantly. We will also increase our efforts to promote the avocado sorting line in Kenya.
Kenya is Africa's largest producer and exporter of avocados, with the season running from mid-February to November each year. At present, Kenyan avocados have begun to ripen. Benjamin Tito, head of the Horticultural Crops Directorate, said that the Fuerte variety will be exported on March 4, and the Hass variety will be harvested and exported on March 18.
Avocados are Kenya's important agricultural export, accounting for nearly half of the country's total fruit exports. Kenya will export 84,000 tons of avocados in 2021, with major export destinations including the United Arab Emirates, Finland and France. The Kenyan government once pointed out that the Chinese market is expected to import 40% of Kenya's avocados, making it the country's largest overseas market.
Mutui said Kenya has made every effort to ensure that fresh avocados exported to China comply with Chinese phytosanitary laws and regulations, health and safety standards, and do not contain any quarantine pests of concern to China. All producers and exporters planning to export fresh avocados to China must have farms, packing houses and fumigation facilities duly registered with the government.