Chinese consumers among reasons for global avocado shortage

(Photo: Mirror)

A recent shortage of the supposed "super food" is causing outrage on social media, as it emerges that supply can't keep up with demand.

Prices have soared after poor harvests in Mexico, Peru and California, meaning Instagram-loving foodies now have to pay even more for their smashed avocado on toast.

According to Bloomberg, a 10kg box of Hass avocados from Mexico now costs around £21 - more than twice the price it was back in 2016.

Some have suggested that the surge in demand from China's emerging middle class is also having an unprecedented effect.

University of Huddersfield lecturer David Harvey points out that the 100 MILLION people that make up China's middle class are also developing a taste for avocado.

"Avocados – or “butter fruit” as they are known – are also relatively new there, having only been available in exclusive outlets for a few years," he writes.

"So avocado demand there is being doubly driven, not only by their promised health benefits, but equally by their newness, exclusivity and symbolic, aspirational value to the burgeoning middle class."

Thanks to the protein and oil content of avocado (more than any other fruit) it has been adopted by fitness gurus and health-conscious social media users as a core part of nutrition.

Interestingly, the old avo' is also full of calories and monunsaturated fat - but that doesn't make for a good hashtag. A quick Instagram search for #Avocado turns up 5,818,219 public posts at the time of writing.