The Future Ahead - SST and Avocado (Malaysia)

The Future Ahead - SST and Avocado (Malaysia)

This article is shared from the heart — based on our own personal views and hands-on experience after many years of growing avocados and other fruit crops.

Our views are grounded in real-world lessons, trial and error, and we’re not academics or policymakers, just passionate planters who believe in the future of Malaysian avocados. We hope our journey and thoughts can inspire more people — from growers, consumers to decision-makers — to see the tremendous potential and the promise this humble fruit holds for our farms, our health, and our country.


** Avocados: Malaysia’s Most Overlooked Green Investment (Cash Crop) — From planting to shelf in 2-3 years. With demand far outpacing local supply, the market remains wide open for growth. 

 

1️⃣ The government’s move to impose Sales and Service Tax ("SST") on imported avocados — notably from Australia, Mexico, and South Africa — presents a valuable opportunity for local growers to gain a stronger foothold in the domestic market. Imported avocados, while dominant due to their established reputation and “premium” branding, often disappoint consumers with premature spoilage, failure to ripen, and uneven ripening. With the added cost of SST, Malaysian importers may turn to cheaper, lower-grade products to preserve profit margins — potentially worsening these quality issues.


In contrast, locally grown avocados benefit from a shorter farm-to-buyer timeline, offering greater consistency in ripeness and freshness, provided they are harvested and handled correctly. This makes local avocados a more reliable and cost-effective choice, especially if their quality matches or surpasses that of imports.


That said, SST is unlikely to significantly affect the price or demand for locally grown avocados, as they are already much cheaper than imported ones — and supply still falls short of meeting market demand. As long as the quality is good, there will always be demand. SST should serve as a wake-up call for local growers: do not simply plant any variety that produces low-quality fruit, as such produce won’t sell, even at extremely low prices ~ the consumers are smart to compare and are not hesistant to reject low quality fruits produced by poor avocado varieties. Hence, local growers should always get quality and genuine saplings from reliable sources and don't get sweet-talked by any unscrupulous supplier into buying or planting lousy varieties or easily enticed by nice photos taken from farms abroad.


2️⃣ Malaysia remains a net importer of avocados, as local production is still too limited to satisfy domestic demand. Avocado consumption has surged over 300% in the past decade, driven by growing public awareness of its heart-healthy fats, folate, potassium, and fibre — nutrients that support cardiovascular health, pregnancy, and overall wellness, thanks in large part to the internet and social media.

At the same time, interest in avocado cultivation is gaining momentum, fuelled by several factors including:

• The emergence of new avocado varieties that can match or outperform the commercialised Hass;

• The search for alternative crops amid concerns of durian overcultivation;

• Frustration with the price volatility and low returns of traditional crops like mangosteen, nangka, langsat, rambutan, pulasan, duku and chempedak.

With the right government support — including incentives, grants, and technical guidance covering planting, care, and marketing — more growers would consider avocados as a serious commercial crop. Production could expand rapidly in under five years, as avocado trees (with the right variety and care) can mature and bear significant fruit within 2–3 years — far faster than the 6–8 years required for durian.


3️⃣ This tax policy sends a clear signal: avocado cultivation is a viable and promising venture.
Now is the time to expand existing farms and dedicate more land to avocado planting to tap into growing demand.


4️⃣ It is timely and appropriate for the government to offer incentives — such as low-interest loans and subsidies for fertilisers and seedlings — to accelerate industry growth. Such support would help growers scale up production while ensuring quality through technical assistance, research, and development. Crucially, the government should direct all relevant departments — including the Department of Agriculture and MARDI — to step out of their comfort zones and stop over-focusing on durian, nangka (e.g. J33), pineapple (e.g. MD2), and coconut (e.g. Matag). It’s time these agencies take inspiration from the state government of Sabah and actively champion avocado cultivation.


✅ Conclusion:

Malaysia holds tremendous potential in avocado farming, with its favourable tropical climate and a strategic geographical location that is free from earthquakes, typhoons and extreme cold. With proper management, research, and incentives, avocado could become one of Malaysia’s signature high-value crops, creating jobs, reducing food imports, and improving national food security.

Avocados aren’t just a luxury fruit. They are a nutritional powerhouse — packed with healthy fats, vitamins, and fibre. They support the health of pregnant mothers, children, the elderly, and people with heart concerns. Unlike durian, they can be eaten regularly without moderation.

Promoting avocado consumption is not just good economics; it’s good public health policy. By making avocados affordable and widely available — with strong government support and increased consumer awareness — avocados could become a daily staple in Malaysian households, just as bananas and papayas are today.

Sincerely Yours, 

Veracado Avocado Malaysia (Facebook Page)

** Gentle Reminder:-

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