THE "avolanche" of 2022 is still fresh in consumer and producers memories as a huge oversupply led to Aussies buying up more and the industry exploring new export markets.
Austchilli Group, a Bundaberg-based food manufacturer, was already ahead of the curve with a line of avocado products and saw the extra fruit as an opportunity to push their Avofresh brand into the Asian retail market.
Austchilli Group founder and director David De Paoli said the company exhibited in several cities over the last several months and things were looking extremely positive as the avocado purees and pastes hit the retail shelves.
"The avolanche is over temporarily," he said.
"Last year because of the very high volume of avocados in Australia we decided we would do a big push on exports.
"We have recently exhibited in Singapore and Bangkok and the reaction and enquiry was extremely positive, so now we have now decided to do a big push into high value retail chains in the Asian belt and just this year we achieved getting these products in store in Malaysia for the Chinese New Year celebrations."
With unusual weather conditions, Mr De Paoli said fruit yield would be lighter this season but this would not be a problem for growers as while there would be less fruit, prices would be slightly higher and there would still be plenty remaining for processing.
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Mr De Paoli said the group would use thousands of tonnes of avocados from growers Australia-wide with the fruit peeled, pitted, cold pressed, using high pressure technology, and then pureed into convenient tubes and tubs.
He hoped having longer life products on Asian retail shop shelves would mean fruit would no longer be wasted.
"Now that we can get consistent supply, we will continue to process all the product nobody wants," he said.
"All the growers in Australia will get a better return because all their product will be sold.
"This is good for growers because now they will get a return instead of having to dump it, they can send it to us."
Mr De Paoli said the timing of entering the overseas market was perfect for a variety of reasons, including a demographic of rising middle class looking for a healthy product which can easily be kept in a small space.
He also said Australian produce already has a high quality reputation and there is a consumer shift to finding sustainable companies producing sustainable products.
"Consumers love that big sustainability tag," Mr De Paoli said.
"A lot of our farming practice focuses on soil health and is grown on a sustainable basis with solar panels and low water usage.
"We have a lot of credits and we can show the world our footprint is very light."
Austchilli Group is a privately owned company that is also the largest chilli grower in Australia and also produces a range of chilli purees.
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