Australian fruit being shut out of Thailand over a regulatory issue has opened up an unexpected opportunity for New Zealand avocado growers this season, says Southern Produce director Carwyn Williams.

It is predicted the market in the Southeast Asian country will takesomewhere between 20,000-30,000 trays.

New Zealand avocado growers have an unexpected opportunity at their hands.

'It has the potential for more volume, but the opportunity came out of the blue given Australia's access issues, so it was not really part of our marketing strategy for this year so we have to limit our volumes and activity. I'm sure next year we will want to ramp things up a bit more,” says Carwyn.

Southern Produce, together with Primor, is part of the newly-formed AVOCO export company and its sales into countries other than Australia are marketed under the AVANZA brand, which represents a collaborative agreement between AVOCO and exporter Just Avocados Ltd.

Carwyn says AVANZA is in a position to take advantage of the market opening in Thailand thanks to the assistance of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

'We have been working closely with the NZTE, who gave us introductions to a number of Thai-based importers and retailers. I interviewed most of them recently in Hong Kong at the Asia Fruit Logistic. As a result, we now have weekly airfreight shipments going to seven new customers in Thailand.”

As the market matures and better options become available, sea freight will also be used, says Carwyn, who believes Thailand is an immature market in terms of avocado consumption.

'I will be visiting our seven customers in early this month, and will be accompanied and assisted by the NZTE office in Bangkok. I'm expecting a lot of ‘back to basics' in terms of product handling, both at importer distribution level as well as at retail. It's an exciting phase in any new market development.”

Thailand appears to offerendless opportunities, Carwyn says. 'When you look at what we have achieved in other South East Asian countries over the last six or seven years, we see continued year on year growth, and we really are only scratching the surface.”

Thanks to a recent Free Trade Agreement, New Zealand faces no tariffs in Thailand, but Carwyn says this message is taking a while to get through the official channels. 'It would seem not everyone in the Thai customs department is briefed. This has caused a lot of issues with clearances, but they are slowly catching up on policy.”