Domestic quality report August 2026

Quality remains high as sampling for the Monitoring avocado supply chain quality project concludes

In July, Australian-grown Hass avocados were 92% acceptable, exceeding the industry target of 90% acceptable fruit but falling slightly below June’s result of 96%.

The decline was mainly due to an increase in unacceptable bruising, which affected 7% of sampled Australian Hass compared with 2.7% in June (Figure 1).

The increase occurred mostly in Sydney and Perth. In Perth, unacceptable bruising was largely concentrated in a small number of samples, where ripe fruit on loose displays stacked up to four layers high were likely contributing factors.

In Sydney, elevated bruising was more widespread, with a larger number of samples showing moderate levels of unacceptable bruising. Some Sydney samples had clear contributing factors, such as fruit stacked three layers high, but most did not.

The samples collected in July were the final samples for the project, which concluded with an average of 92% acceptable fruit across all years of monitoring.

Australian-grown avocados have exceeded the industry target of 90% in each year since sampling began in July 2023, and quality has improved over the course of the project (Figure 2).

Bruising was the predominant internal defect rendering fruit unacceptable, affecting almost 5% of Australian-grown avocados sampled across the project. Reducing bruising is therefore key to further improving quality.

Most bruising occurs after fruit arrives at the retail store, making good handling practices from this point onwards essential. The most effective strategies to reduce bruising at the retail display are to present avocados in a single layer in their original trays, to sort displays by ripeness, and to keep fruit age as low as possible. These steps have an immediate effect on the quality of fruit reaching consumers, driving consumer confidence and repeat purchases.

More information

For further information on retail and wholesale monitoring, contact Adam Goldwater from Applied Horticultural Research at adam.goldwater@ahr.com.au, or Anne Larard at idm@avocado.org.au from Avocados Australia.

This article appears as part of the 14 August 2026 issue of Guacamole, our e-Newsletter.