Vicente Bayona, CEO of Tropical Bayper, sees this shift as a move towards greater commercial balance and new market windows.
The varietal landscape of avocado production in the Valencian Community is beginning to change. Hass is gaining ground, and nursery sales are already providing a significant indication of how the crop could evolve over the coming years.
According to Bayona, around 60,000 avocado plants have been sold and planted in the Valencian Community this season, approximately 60% of them Hass and 40% Lamb Hass. This is the first time the balance has shifted towards Hass in this way in an area historically associated with Lamb Hass. “Hass is gaining ground in eastern Spain as a variety to watch,” Bayona says.
The change also reflects commercial considerations. The accumulated growth in Lamb Hass plantings makes it necessary to assess how its marketing window will evolve as production increases. Diversifying with Hass provides more options and reduces the concentration of supply within a single period.
This does not mean that Lamb Hass is losing importance. On the contrary, the latest spring season for Valencian avocados ended positively for Tropical Bayper. Bayona points out that the fruit was harvested at the right time and with the correct dry matter levels, enabling the company to complete the season without any claims and reinforcing the perception of Valencian avocados as a late-season fruit with strong commercial performance.
Higher production despite the impact of the heat
Production trends do, however, present some nuances. The high temperatures this summer caused fruit drop in certain plantations. This effect is being partially offset by another factor: many trees are now entering their third or fourth year and are therefore increasing their production capacity.
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This development confirms that avocado production continues to establish itself in eastern Spain and that the debate is no longer solely about how much acreage will increase, but also which varieties will account for that growth and how the different marketing windows will be structured.
Luna under evaluation
The search for alternatives does not end with Hass. Tropical Bayper has also begun working with Luna, an avocado variety that the company is evaluating in its first plantings. Vicente Bayona remains cautious at this stage. He believes it is still too early to draw definitive conclusions about its productivity and agronomic performance, and that several years will be needed before sufficient information is available.
Papaya opens up another avenue for growth
Avocados are not the only tropical fruit in which Tropical Bayper is expanding its activity. The company is also working with papayas grown in the Canary Islands, a category in which it says it is increasing both production and sales.
One of the main new developments is the introduction of the Golden variety, which Tropical Bayper expects to begin producing and marketing shortly in response to the interest identified among its customers.
Fruit Attraction will provide a showcase for this evolution and an opportunity to present the company’s latest developments in tropical fruit.
