Avocados are found in the market all over the year, since the different producing countries offer harvests at different periods of the year. Avocados were sold in the market when they were still hard, that is to say, bitter. At present, they are sold mature, thanks to the application of ethylene. The best moment to consume them is when the pulp is soft and it spreads like butter.

The transport of this fruit from packaging to the supplying centres is usually by air, sea or terrestrial, depending on the distance.

The following table shows as an example the dates of availability in the United Kingdom market, the origin and the weight of the packages.

Origin	Availability in the UK markets	Weight of the packages
AUSTRALIA
Fuerte	April-September	6 kg
Hass	May-September
BRAZIL
Fuerte	Sporadic	Various
Hass	Sporadic
CANARY ISLANDS
Fuerte	October-May	4kg ct 10/22
Hass	October-May
CHILE
Fuerte	August-May	4/11.2 kg
Hass	June-October
CYPRUS
Fuerte	October-December	5 kg ct 14/20
Hass	January-March
Reed	February-April
REP.DOMINICANA
Various	May	Various
FRANCE
Fuerte	October-April	8 kg
Hass	October-April
GAMBIA
Fuerte	September-December	5 kg
Hass	September-December
Nabal	September-December
GHANA
Fuerte	Sporadic	Various
Hass	Sporadic
GREECE
Fuerte	December-February	5/6 kg
Hass	June-April
ISRAEL
Ardith	March-April	4kg ct 10/22
Ettinger	October-January
Fuerte	October-March
Hass	November-May
Nabal	January-May
Pinkerton	February-April
JAMAICA
Collinson	October-January	3.6/4.5 kg
Lula	October-January
Simmonds	July-September
ITALY
Fuerte	Sporadic	Various
Hass	Sporadic
KENYA
Fuerte	All the year round	4 kg ct 10/16/20
Hass	All the year round
MEXICO
Fuerte	After August-April	5 kg
Hass	After August-April
NEW ZEALAND
Hass	November-February	5 kg ct 16/28
NIGERIA
Various	August-March	5 kg
PERU
Fuerte	May-September	4 kg
PORTUGAL
Bacon	September-June	Various
Fuerte	September-June
Hass	September-June
Pinkerton	September-June
Reed	September-June
SOUTH AFRICA
Edranol	June-September	4 kg ct 10/24
Fuerte	March-June	4 kg ct 10/22
Hass	May-October	4 kg ct 10/22
Pinkerton	June-October	4 kg ct 8/20
Ryan	July-September	4 kg ct 10/22
SPAIN
Bacon	September-end of October	4 kg ct 10/22
Fuerte	October-May
Hass	October-May
UGANDA
Fuerte	All the year round	Various
THE UNITED STATES
Fuerte	According to the market demands	4.5 kg ct 7/16
Hass	According to the market demands
Nabal	According to the market demands
VENEZUELA
Fuerte	September-June	4 kg ct 10/20
Hass	September-June
ZIMBAWE
Fuerte	March-September	Various
Hass	March-September

Source: Fresh Produce Desk Book (2001)