How to import avocados from Kenya: documents, duties, transit times and payment terms

Importing avocados from Kenya is straightforward when the supplier is licensed, the fruit is harvested at the right dry matter and the paperwork is complete before the container leaves Mombasa. This guide is written for buyers who have not yet worked with a Kenyan origin, and as a checklist for those who have.

1. Choose a licensed exporter

Every avocado exporter in Kenya must hold a current Horticultural Crops Directorate export licence from the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA-HCD) and be registered with KEPHIS, the plant health authority. Ask for both, plus GLOBALG.A.P. and GRASP certificates for the farms, and a packhouse audit (BRCGS, HACCP or equivalent). Prefer exporters who grow their own fruit or operate contracted orchards: a trader who buys at the roadside cannot control dry matter or spray records. Konza Tropicals grows on its own plantations and packs under its own programme, and we send a supplier approval pack on request.

2. Agree the specification in writing

• Variety and class: Hass Class 1 (Extra on request), Fuerte Class 1.
• Sizes: counts per 4 kg carton or sizes per 10 kg crate, and the percentage split.
• Dry matter at harvest and maximum days from harvest to loading.
• Packaging: 4 kg cartons, 10 kg crates, or buyer labelled packaging; pallet configuration.
• Temperature: 5 to 6 °C set point for Hass, with data loggers on named pallets.
• Quality control: an independent pre loading report (we use Fruit Quality Studio Africa) with photographs, pulp temperature, dry matter and defects.

3. Understand the documents

A Kenyan export consignment travels with a commercial invoice, packing list, KEPHIS phytosanitary certificate, KEPHIS certificate of conformity, AFA-HCD export clearance, the sea waybill or bill of lading, a certificate of origin and, for the European Union and the United Kingdom, a EUR.1 movement certificate that gives duty free entry under the EU-Kenya and UK-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreements. China requires orchard and packhouse registration with GACC; the Gulf requires a certificate of origin attested by the chamber; Israel and India have their own import permits that the importer obtains.

4. Duties and market access

5. Shipping and transit

Containers load at the packhouse in Thika, Nairobi or the Rift Valley, are sealed under KEPHIS supervision and travel by road to Mombasa. Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM run weekly reefer services. Typical transits: Algeciras and Valencia 20 to 24 days, Rotterdam and Antwerp 25 to 30 days, Jebel Ali 7 to 12 days, Mersin 14 to 18 days, Mumbai 10 to 14 days, Shanghai and Hong Kong 25 to 30 days. Air freight from Nairobi reaches Europe and the Gulf overnight for small early season lots and for herbs and chillies.

6. Incoterms and payment terms

Most of our fresh programmes run ExWorks packhouse or FOB Mombasa with freight collect, so the buyer books and pays the shipping line directly and keeps control of the box. CIF is available. For a first programme we work on payment against order confirmation: a 50 to 70 per cent advance on the commercial invoice before loading and the balance against documents or on arrival, with an independent QC report protecting both sides. Consignment and minimum guaranteed price arrangements are offered through our European sales office partner SAFTA once two or three arrivals have been completed.

7. On arrival

Inspect within 24 hours of discharge, check the temperature log, and send photographs of any issue the same day. Kenyan Hass arrives firm at stage one or two and ripens in four to seven days at 18 to 20 °C; ripening rooms should be set for a long season fruit with a slightly higher dry matter than Peruvian fruit of the same month.