Kenya has exported avocados to China worth Sh. 9 billion in three months of March, April and May.

These avocados added up to secen million kilograms and fetched Kenya an estimated USD64.38 million.

This has been revealed by the Kenya Plants Inspectorate Service (Kephis). According to Kephis, the number of exporters who have been licensed to access the Chinese market from January to date has increased to 78.

These exporters comprise of 58 farms and 20 pack houses. In the previous year, there were only 25 licensed exporters of avocados to China.

“We have seen a huge increase in terms of demand for exports of our avocado to China. This has boosted the earnings the country is getting from this new market,” said Kephis Principal Inspector George Momanyi.

Momanyi added that exportation of avocados to China is fetching more money than avocados that are exported to the traditional markets of Europe and the Middle East.

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However, Momanyi reckons that Kenya’s exportation of avocados is facing stiff competition from Chile, whose crop is in season and has flooded the Chinese market.

“The earnings would be more than what we recorded were it not for Chile fruits that have flooded the Chinese market,” he said.

According to data from the Horticulture Crops Directorate (HCD), avocado exports rose from 66 million tonnes in 2018 to 86 million tonnes in 2021.

At the same time, in 2022, Kenya’s avocado export value was estimated at $15.15 billion.

Kenya started exporting to China in August 2022. When the market was opened for Kenya, avocado earnings to China recorded Sh. 7 billion ($50 million) in three months to October.

This exceeded the Sh. 6 billion ($42.92 million) that Kenya had earned between March and July of the same year, an indication of how important the Chinese has proven for Kenya’s avocados market.