Fresh fruit & vegetables · Buyer profile
Avocados for import: Hass and green-skin grades and sizes
Persea americana Mill.
Fresh avocados are graded separately for commercial quality, size, and maturity; FFV-42 recognizes Extra, Class I, and Class II.[1]
Storage temperature depends on cultivar and ripeness, so mature-green and ready-to-eat fruit require different handling plans.[2]
Free for buyers. One reviewed request; our team approaches suitable independent suppliers and returns comparable proposals — you never deal with a supplier directly, and suppliers cannot pay for placement. Assisted sourcing applies to programmes of USD 250,000 or more per year or season.
Educational profile, not an offer. Facts are general and come from the numbered sources; guidance boxes are our own buyer advice. No verified supplier offer for this item is on file — origin, grade, certification, packing and timing are confirmed per offer, with evidence, during sourcing.
At a glance
Short answers to the questions buyers ask first. Each answer comes from the numbered sources below.
- Which types do buyers specify?
- Hass, Fuerte — green-skin, Reed — green-skin.[3]
- How is quality graded?
- Class I permits slight shape and color defects and nonprogressive skin defects or sunburn totaling no more than 4 cm²; flesh must not be affected.[1]
- What do the sources say about seasons?
- The May 2025 Peru report places the main harvest concentration between March and August; it identifies May–August as the 2024 peak harvest months.[4]
- How is it stored and shipped?
- Mature-green fruit has an optimum storage range of 5–13°C, depending on cultivar and duration.[2]
- What makes it premium?
- Extra Class requires superior quality and the characteristics of the variety under section II.C(i).[1]
What avocados are
- FFV-42 covers fresh Persea americana cultivars but excludes parthenocarpic fruit and fruit for industrial processing.[1]
- Maturity must allow the fruit to continue ripening to a satisfactory eating stage; ripe fruit should be free from bitterness.[1]
- Minimum dry matter is 21% for Hass, 20% for Fuerte, Pinkerton, Reed, and Edranol, and 19% for other varieties, with an exception for Antillean varieties that may be lower.[1]
Recognized types and varieties
How the types buyers name in requests differ, as described by the sources. Pick one to carry it into your request.
Commercial formats, classes and grades
- Class I permits slight shape and color defects and nonprogressive skin defects or sunburn totaling no more than 4 cm²; flesh must not be affected.[1]
- Class II permits shape and color defects and nonprogressive skin defects or sunburn totaling no more than 6 cm²; flesh must not be affected.[1]
- Size is determined by weight or count; codes 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 correspond to 300–371 g, 258–313 g, 227–274 g, 203–243 g, and 184–217 g respectively.[1]
- The full non-Antillean size scale runs from code 4 at 781–1,220 g to code 30 at 123–137 g; code S covers fruit below 123 g with a maximum within-package spread of 25 g.[1]
- For Antillean varieties, the smallest fruit in a package must weigh at least 75% of the largest.[1]
- Extra allows 5% by number or weight below the declared class but meeting Class I, including no more than 0.5% in total of Class II fruit.[1]
- Class I allows 10% below class but meeting Class II, including no more than 1% in total below Class II or minimum requirements, or affected by decay.[1]
- Class II allows 10% below class or minimum requirements, including no more than 2% in total affected by decay.[1]
- All classes allow a 10% sizing tolerance by number or weight.[1]
- Each package must be uniform in origin, variety, quality, coloring, and size, and the visible contents must represent the whole package.[1]
- Package marking includes packer/dispatcher identification, country of origin, class, and size; the variety is required.[1]
Typical uses and buyer profiles
Who typically specifies this — general guidance
- For retail programs, define the acceptance specification before comparing proposals.
- For foodservice programs, specify delivery cadence and intended preparation.
Seasonality and sourcing considerations
Season windows are shown as the sources state them; confirm packing or harvest weeks with each supplier for the season you buy.
- The May 2025 Peru report places the main harvest concentration between March and August; it identifies May–August as the 2024 peak harvest months.[4]
- The March 2026 Mexico report describes four overlapping flowering seasons supporting continuous international supply; these flowering periods are not shipment windows.[5]
- California Fuerte is harvested from late fall through spring; this is a California-specific variety window, not a global calendar.[3]
Storage, handling and logistics
- Mature-green fruit has an optimum storage range of 5–13°C, depending on cultivar and duration.[2]
- Ripe fruit has an optimum storage range of 2–4°C.[2]
- Optimum relative humidity is 90–95%.[2]
- Treatment with 100 ppm ethylene at 20°C for 12–48 hours, depending on season, can induce ripening in 3–6 days depending on cultivar and maturity.[2]
- Mature-green fruit kept at 0–2°C for more than seven days can develop skin pitting, scalding, and blackening.[2]
- Exposure to 3–5°C for more than two weeks can cause internal browning, failure to ripen, and greater susceptibility to pathogens.[2]
- Mature-green Hass can retain good ripening quality after nine weeks at 5–7°C under 2% oxygen and 3–5% carbon dioxide; this is a controlled-atmosphere result, not a general transit-life promise.[2]
Strengths, trade-offs and best fit
Strengths
- Ethylene treatment provides a documented method for managing postharvest ripening.[2]
Best fit when… — general guidance
- Choose the specification against your intended use and receiving capacity.
What to state in your request
- State destination, delivery window, annual or seasonal volume, and shipment cadence.
- Specify variety, quality class, size basis, and acceptance tolerances.
- Describe pack format, net weight, labeling language, and pallet requirements.
- Request harvest, packing, and temperature records with the proposal.
- Ask for the destination-specific plant-health documents and market-access evidence.
- Agree inspection method, sampling plan, and claims procedure before dispatch.
Start your request with these requirements
Fill in what you already know; it is carried into the request form, where you add your programme value and contact details. Nothing is sent until you submit the form.
Free for buyers. One reviewed request; our team approaches suitable independent suppliers and returns comparable proposals — you never deal with a supplier directly, and suppliers cannot pay for placement. Assisted sourcing applies to programmes of USD 250,000 or more per year or season.
Often requested with avocados
Starter kits group products that buyers commonly source in one programme. The notes explain how the lines depend on each other — they are our general guidance; the product facts stay on each sourced profile.
Avocado and tropical fruit ripening programme
For distributors who receive firm fruit and ripen or condition it before delivery to stores or food service.
Our guidance: State the ripeness stage you need on arrival — for example firm for your own ripening, or pre-conditioned — because it changes how the fruit is packed and shipped.
Compliance, documents and who is responsible
- Requirements for avocados depend on the product and on the origin and destination countries — check them for your own market before you commit.
- The producer or exporter is responsible for the product and shipment requirements; the buyer or importer for import permissions, local rules and its own due diligence.
- Certificates (for example GLOBALG.A.P., BRCGS, ASC, BAP, organic or halal) are requested per offer and checked against the issuing body or official register. Global B2B Group does not manufacture, export or certify products and does not give legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is green skin proof that an avocado is unripe?
Skin color is variety-dependent. Hass turns from green to purplish-black as it ripens; the variety and gentle-pressure assessment should inform receiving criteria.[3]
Which dry-matter threshold applies to Hass?
FFV-42 specifies 21% minimum dry matter measured by drying to constant weight.[1]
Does Extra mean a zero-defect lot?
No. Extra has strict fruit requirements but a 5% lot quality tolerance, including at most 0.5% in total of Class II fruit.[1]
Related guides and tools
- Fresh fruit & vegetables: category guide
- Compare with cherries
- Compare with blueberries
- Compare with mangoes
- Compare with table grapes
- Compare with citrus
- Compare with durian
- Compare with tomatoes
- How importers evaluate avocado and blueberry grades
- Premium produce sourcing
- Fresh produce RFQ
- Peru export flows: berries, grapes, avocados and citrus
Farm, plant or input projects
Production projects behind this product — farms, hatcheries, processing or growing systems — are handled by our specialist platform.
SeedMatchSources
Numbers in the text point to these sources. Dates are those shown on each source, or the date we checked an undated page.
- 1.UNECE Standard FFV-42 Avocados, 2023 edition (opens in a new tab) — UNECE, 2023
- 2.Avocado — Produce Facts (opens in a new tab) — UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center, February 1999
- 3.Avocado varieties (opens in a new tab) — California Avocado Commission, page checked 2026-10-25
- 4.Peruvian Avocado Exports Expected to Bounce Back (GAIN PE2025-0005) (opens in a new tab) — USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, 16 May 2025
- 5.Mexico Avocado Annual (GAIN MX2026-0019) (opens in a new tab) — USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, 12 March 2026
Profile last reviewed 2026-10-25. Report a correction via contact.
Global B2B Group is committed to conducting its own activities in accordance with applicable law. It facilitates sourcing and RFQs and does not itself produce, manufacture, export or sell the listed products, or approve them on behalf of any authority. Suppliers are responsible for the products and shipments they offer and supply meeting the requirements of the origin and destination countries — for example safety, quality, labelling, traceability, sanitary or phytosanitary certificates and export documents, where relevant. Buyers remain responsible for their own import permissions, local requirements and due diligence. Requirements differ by product and country; this is not legal advice. Compliance & responsibilities · Terms