Avo export challenge

Industry looks to expand overseas sales

AVOCADOS coming out of North Queensland are among the best being produced across the country, but it’s the export industry that is proving a tough market to crack into.

The annual avocado harvest has kicked off in the north, with the region tipped to produce the majority of Australia’s avocados again this year.

Currently, North Queensland accounts for 62 per cent of the national harvest.

Atherton grower and Avo- cados Australia chairman Jim Kochi said that while there had been a lot of growth with additional plantings, export was proving to be a challenge.

“We have some issues up here; we have fruit fly plus another three or four pests that can cause some problems,” he said.

“So it’s a matter of getting the protocols in place to be able to get (the fruit) through the systems in South East Asia.

“Thailand was a market that we were sending to, it was an open market, but now it’s got protocols.

“We now have some protocols in place for Japan, but at the moment that’s only for fruit coming out of Western Australia.

“Hopefully the Japanese will accept the research that’s being done in Cairns at the DAF labs in Portsmith on fruit fly … that would open up the Japanese market hopefully in the near future.”

Avocados Australia chief executive John Tyas said the industry body was working with Hort Innovation to expand domestic and existing international markets.

Avocados Australia was also working actively with the Australian Government to open new export markets, to ensure sustainable growth of the industry into the future, he said.

“At the moment, we export less than 5 per cent of our production annually, but that will increase as our production increases,” he said.

“Gaining access to new markets ahead of that increased supply is a high priority for the Australian industry, as is boosting our current markets, Malaysia and Singapore in particular.”