Strong start for Australian avocados in export quality benchmarking project

Retail quality monitoring in Hong Kong commenced in November 2025 with the launch of the Avocado International Retail Quality Benchmarking project (AV24015). Funded through the Hort Innovation avocado research and development levy, the project will benchmark Australian avocado quality against competitor countries in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. A key feature is real-time feedback delivered via an interactive online dashboard, giving exporters access to live quality data from overseas retail markets.

Fruit quality has been monitored in Hong Kong for six weeks. During this period, 24 samples (240 fruit) have been collected and assessed. To date, eight Australian samples have been collected from a range of exporters. The project is targeting a 75% Australian and 25% competitor mix and will therefore focus on increasing the number of Australian samples in the coming weeks.

Initial results have been promising, with 93% of Australian fruit rated acceptable (<10% internal defects), versus 59% of competitor fruit. Quality differences were observed between Australian and competitor fruit despite comparable fruit age, suggesting other supply chain factors are driving the results. Future supply chain studies will investigate these factors and identify improvements to strengthen the competitiveness of Australian avocados in international markets.

Examples of fruit quality observed in Hong Kong, showing an Australian sample (left) and a competitor sample (right).

What is next for the project?

The first six months of the project will focus on trialling the retail quality monitoring methodology in Hong Kong. The methodology will then be reviewed and refined before monitoring is commenced in Kuala Lumpur and continued in Hong Kong. Monitoring will subsequently run in both cities for a further two years.

Project results will be shared through monthly Guacamole summaries, Talking Avocados articles, and the Best Practice Resource, and presented at regional forums and webinars.

More information

For further details please contact Henry Hyde henry.hyde@ahr.com.au or Adam Goldwater adam.goldwater@ahr.com.au at AHR.

Acknowledgements

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the avocado research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

This article appears as part of the 16 January 2026 edition of Guacamole, our eNews.

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