Tropical fruit export strategy (MT17002)

What was it all about?

This investment was tasked with developing individual export strategies for a range of tropical commodities including papaya, passionfruit, persimmon, lychee and banana, feeding into an overarching export strategy for Australian tropical fruit.

The new Papaya Industry Export Market Development Strategy was released during May 2018, with its top-level overview of trade opportunities and considerations available from Hort Innovation here in a brief mapping report.

Some quick takeaways:

• Based on the project’s market analysis, the potential export market size for Australian papaya that could be achieved by 2023 is estimated at 310 tonnes.
  
  
• While papaya is usually grown in areas around the world that are subject to cyclones and intense weather events, Australian production has the advantage of more stable weather zones, particularly in the Atherton Tablelands. Australia also has access to an extensive choice of varieties.
  
  
• Best-prospect markets for papaya outlined in the strategy include Qatar, Bahrain, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.
  
  
• Challenges include an underdeveloped export supply chain, with the industry currently focused on servicing the domestic market, as well as considerations and potential difficulties around the nature of the fruit, such as its soft skin and shelf life.

Following the strategy findings, the next steps involved Hort Innovation working with industry to determine the appetite for levy investment in the export space and to subsequently roll out any trade-related R&D activities.