Avocados - UCL

UCL Avocado Division

UCL’s 100 years of success are built on our proven ability to innovate at the right times in the right ways. One such innovation is our recent expansion into the avocado market. South Africa is ideally placed to serve the European avocado market, leveraging the fact that peak local production coincides with low volume from other areas. However, avocados only thrive in specific conditions and require careful packing and handling. To take advantage of this opportunity, UCL identified several local farms with perfect conditions for avocado production.

We invested in a state-of-the-art automated packing facility with world-leading cold chain technology for packing, storage, and distribution. This, coupled with UCL’s proximity to Durban, one of the largest ports in Africa, is tailor-made to help the local community deliver this crop to the waiting international market.

UCL’s avocados are harvested between July and October and delivered to our automated packhouse, which can handle over 16 000 tons in a single season.

The fruit is checked with a TOMRA optic sizer and graded for quality, then packed and cooled. UCL has force coolers with a capacity around 250 pallets, and cold-room capacity for 600 pallets.

The facility has four dispatch bays specially equipped to maintain optimal conditions throughout the loading procedure, and a separate inspection area for PPECB assessments. Not only is UCL’s expansion into avocados beneficial in its own right, but it is also a strategic diversification that complements our sugar and timber offerings. Consistent quality, service excellence, and a commitment to local agriculture: this is our world.

This is UCL.