After discovering the nutritional value of avocado and its importance for health, the fruit has been increasingly sought after by Brazilian consumers and by the international market. Brazil is one of the largest avocado producers in the world.

The avocado, Persea americana Mill, originally from the American continent, was initially called ahuacalt by the Mayans and Aztecs and popularly known as palto or palta by the Peruvians. It is a subtropical fruit tree with high nutritional value and functional characteristics, both for human nutrition and for the production of cosmetics.

There are reports of avocado growing in Brazil since 1787, however, the first official introduction took place in 1893, when four trees from French Guiana, belonging to the Antillean breed, provided the first seeds of the species to Brazil.

Mexico maintains the lead in world avocado production, followed by the Dominican Republic, Peru, Indonesia, Colombia and Brazil.

According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in 2020 Brazil exported 4.4 thousand tons of avocado, representing 99.1% of the total volume, destined for the European market. With world production of 3.81 million tons of avocado, Brazil has 10 thousand planted hectares and production of 213 thousand tons of fruit.

The largest commercial plantations are in southeastern Brazil, but the climate in the Northeast also favors the sustainable production of Brazilian avocados. Avocado is cultivated on 15,300 hectares of Brazilian territory. In the last ten years, the increase was 19% in area and 34.1% in crops.

According to a FAO report, it is projected that by 2030 avocados, one of the most important crops in the world, will have grown more than three times the level of 2010, reaching 12 million tons.

Brazil is becoming a big player in avocado, not only for the tropical avocado, but also for the Hass type, known as avocado. The planted area of ​​the Hass variety in Brazil represents a good part of the mentioned growth and the objective is the international market that is still largely unaware of tropical varieties. However, Brazilian exporters believe that both can win over consumers around the world.