By: Nick Wilson – News24

Retail group Woolworths confirmed on Wednesday (15/01/2025) it is experiencing a shortage of avocados, saying this is due to a shift in harvesting times in KwaZulu-Natal, lower volumes in the Eastern Cape and logistical delays in Tanzania.

Historically, the month of January is generally considered a tougher month for local avocado supply because avocados are out of season, an avocado industry expert also told News24.

But Woolworths said the "good news" is that new season harvests from Mozambique and Limpopo are "nearly ready", which will help mitigate supply constraints in the coming weeks.

The retailer said in a statement in response to questions from News24 that it was "aware of supply issues affecting the availability of avocados at Woolworths", adding that ensuring fresh produce was readily available to its customers was a "top priority".

It continuously monitored the macro-environment when "predicting and planning the supply of seasonal fruit and vegetables".

Woolworths said its food teams planned for January months to be challenging historically and that various measures are put in place to address this, including supplementing its avocado stock from additional suppliers.

"For instance, in January, we source avocados from Tanzania to mitigate the shortage from local farmers. This season's shortage is predominantly due to harvesting times shifting in the KwaZulu-Natal region, our Eastern Cape farmers seeing lower volumes this year, and unexpected logistical delays which have affected avocados originating from Tanzania."

Woolworths noted that avocado trees tended to adopt alternate bearing cycles which can "see less fruit harvested during off years", which is what its Eastern Cape farmer was experiencing:

The good news is the new season harvests from our farmers in Mozambique and Limpopo are nearly ready and will ease supply constraints over the coming weeks. We are confident this will return our avocado supply levels to normal.

Derek Donkin, CEO of the SA Subtropical Growers' Association (Subtrop), which manages the affairs of the South African Avocado Growers' Association, confirmed there was a general avocado shortage in SA as they were currently out of season.

He said the South African avocado season in runs from February all the way through to December and that January was typically a time of year when there are few avocados available, because the crop has been picked from various regions.

An additional factor contributing to this January's shortage was that SA also experienced a good export market last year, said Donkin, meaning that towards the end of the season, a fair volume was exported. As a result, there are now fewer avocados in the market than this time last year.

SA's largest privately owned retailer Food Lover's Market, meanwhile, also confirmed lower volumes of avocado in the market.

A spokesperson for Food Lover's Market said it and other retailers were "seeing less volume than usual" but that it also had to be kept in mind that "it's just out of season".

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