European Fresh Produce Association Freshfel has expressed concerns that the Chinese ban on Californian citrus imports after discovering six cases of brown rot could impede the start of the summer citrus navel marketing for the southern hemisphere.
With California citrus growers currently having to market produce previously intended for China elsewhere, Freshfel estimates that around 3m boxes of Navel and Valencia oranges will have to find a replacement market.
As well as offloading the produce onto the domestic market, growers and exporters are likely to be looking to other Asian markets including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, according to Dalian Yidu buyer Nick Naseri.
This sets up additional competition for citrus exporters worldwide to the Asian market, which may be flooded with produce as South Africa faces being shut out of the European market over concerns regarding Citrus Black Spot disease.
Asian markets had provided a growing destination for Australian citrus exports after being squeezed out of the traditional US market by cheaper produce from Chile and South Africa. However, with California and South Africa both potentially vying to offload citrus locked out from conventional export destinations, the Australian citrus industry may face tough competition.
Industry insiders say that, while other countries are able to undercut them on price, they are confident of the superior quality of Australian produce. However, some Asian markets, particularly Japan, are already relatively full and it would not take much to oversupply the market and send prices plummeting, according to Citrus Australia's Andrew Harty.
