中國“牛油果”進口飆升

China’s soaring appetite for avocados, driven by demand from its burgeoning health-conscious middle class, has made the “butter fruit” — unheard of a few years ago — the country’s star performer in the imported fruit market.

受中國注重健康的中產階層日益擴大的需求的推動，中國對鱷梨的需求不斷增加，使得在幾年前聞所未聞的“牛油果”成了中國進口水果市場的明星水果。

Exports from Latin American nations such as Mexico and Chile are rising by about 250 per cent a year, leaping from just 154 tonnes in 2012 to more than 25,000 tonnes in 2016.

墨西哥和智利等拉美國家出口的鱷梨正以每年250%左右的速度增長，從2012年僅僅154噸的出口量增加至2016年的2.5萬噸以上。

“More people are paying attention to healthy lifestyles and avocados meet that need,” said Zhang Hui, a sales manager at Fruitday, an online food delivery company.

“越來越多的人正在關注健康的生活方式，鱷梨滿足了這種需求，”網上食品配送公司天天果園(Fruitday)的銷售經理張慧（音）表示。

Even western fast-food brands such as KFC and McDonald’s are being forced to address the changing tastes of their affluent consumers.

就連肯德基(KFC)和麥當勞(McDonald’s)等西方快餐品牌也在被迫迎合其富裕的消費者不斷變化的口味。

Yum China, which operates 5,000 KFC stores in the country, last month launched an “avocado series” of chicken burgers and wraps slathered with guacamole to help upgrade the image of its fried chicken chain, sourcing the fruit from Mexico.

百勝中國(Yum China)在中國經營着5000家肯德基餐廳，上月它推出了牛油果系列雞肉漢堡和雞肉卷，用厚厚一層鱷梨醬來幫助提升其炸雞連鎖店的形象。該公司從墨西哥採購鱷梨。

“It’s viewed as something quite premium and healthy,” said Joey Wat, Yum China’s chief operations officer. A planned three-week avocado promotion ended early due to high demand.

“它被視爲相當高級和健康的東西，”百勝中國首席運營官屈翠容(Joey Wat)表示。由於需求高漲，原本計劃3周的鱷梨推廣活動最終提前結束。

China has almost no experience in commercial avocado cultivation, meaning imports are likely to dominate the market for years.

中國對鱷梨商業種植沒有什麼經驗，這意味着未來多年內進口可能會主導鱷梨市場。

Mexico began exports to China in 2011, when the avocado was still “a very rare fruit”, according to Alejandro Salas, a Mexican trade commissioner in Shanghai. He predicts that Chinese demand will help Mexico diversify away from the US, its top market. “This market will be the second largest,” he said.

墨西哥駐上海領事館商務領事夏涵(Alejandro Salas)介紹，墨西哥於2011年開始向中國出口鱷梨，當時鱷梨還是“一種非常罕見的水果”。他預計，中國對鱷梨的需求將幫助墨西哥的出口多元化，減少對其最大市場美國的依賴。“這個市場將是第二大市場，”他稱。

Mexican officials have held events to promote the fruit, teaching chefs about avocado and tofu smoothies — but last year the country was overtaken by Chile as the dominant exporter to China. Chile has the advantage of a free-trade agreement with China, while Mexican fruit imports have a 10 per cent tariff.

墨西哥官員多次舉行活動推廣鱷梨，教廚師製作鱷梨和豆腐冰沙——但去年智利取代墨西哥，成爲主要的對華鱷梨出口國。智利擁有與中國訂立自由貿易協定的優勢，而墨西哥水果在中國面臨10%的關稅。