Australian growers are calling for urgent government action to save fresh fruit exports to Vietnam, after news this week that the South East Asian nation is considering suspending imports of Australian fruit from 1 January 2015 due to concerns over fruit fly management.
The market is worth around A$40m, and the ban would have most impact on exports of cherries, apples and table grapes, reports www.abc.net.au.
New South Wales (NSW) cherry producers say the federal government needs to act fast because this year’s crop could be at risk if Vietnamese restrictions are put in place. The crop is predicted to be Australia’s largest ever at 14,000 tonnes, up from 10,000 last year.
NSW Farmers Association horticulture chairman Peter Darley told abc.net that the government needs to move to rectify the market before the cherry harvest gets underway.
“Growers… have to look at export to cover a huge crop like there is this year,” he said.
Darley believes the threatened market restrictions are a tit-for-tat move on the part of the Vietnamese government, which is struggling to get Vietnamese summer fruits, such as dragon fruit, into Australia.
Australia has been dragging its feet with regards the import protocol for Vietnamese dragon fruit, he said. “This is Vietnam’s way of saying, smarten your footwork up, otherwise there is a huge potential for Australian cherries into Vietnam that could be on the block.”
Last year, Australia exported 143 tonnes of cherries worth A$2m to Vietnam, according to abc.
The Australian government told the publication that it is working with the Vietnamese government to provide additional information about fruit fly management and control in Australia.
Business development manager for Fruit Growers Tasmania Phil Pyke told abc his organisation was trying to clarify whether Tasmanian fruit would be exempt from the ban, since it is fruit-fly-free.
Abc said Australia is having a poor run of Asian markets closing mostly due to fruit fly concerns, and cheaper supplies, like Chile, moving in.
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