Industry figures have warned that cheap Chilean fruit imports could “decimate” Australian horticulture, according to a report in Australia’s The Weekly Times published today.
Horticulture has been the sacrificial lamb in the Australia-Chile Chilean Free Trade Agreement signed in May, Australian produce leaders are reported as saying.
They believe the FTA will likely speed up applications from Chile to export cheap produce such as stonefruit, cherries, apples and avocados.
Australian growers will be exposed to direct competition since Chile's seasons match Australia's, but stand no chance of selling fruit in return, Summerfruits Australia president Ian McAlister and Australian Table Grape Association chief executive Jeff Scott told The Weekly Times.
Mr McAlister said allowing Chilean fruit imports could 'decimate us'.
'They pay A$1 a day for labour, we pay A$21 an hour,' Mr McAlister said.
He said Chilean stonefruit could bring the dreaded Sharka disease into Australia, which could devastate orchardists.
Another grower said access for Chilean produce gave supermarkets another way to beat down prices to growers - by threatening to buy from Chile.
'To give Chile an FTA with us has the potential to ruin our industry,' the grower said.
Australian Table Grape Association chief executive Jeff Scott said the 'horticulture trade potential under this FTA is only one way'.
'We can compete on quality, but not on price,' Mr Scott said.
A spokesman for Trade Minister Simon Crean told The Weekly Times Australia was a supporter of 'global trade reform and trade liberalisation'.
The FTA was 'unlikely to impact greatly on horticultural trade', he said, partly because Chile had other export markets.
