A number of foreign investors entering the Australian cherry sector are being caught unawares by the demands of the industry, according to Fiona Hall, director of Caernarvon Cherry Company
Hall told ABC Rural that three of the company’s New South Wales suppliers had been bought out by Chinese investors since a free trade between the two nations was announced earlier this year. She says a number of these buyers were surprised to learn how difficult it is to grow and export cherries from Australia to the People’s Republic.
“A lot of the families that we are seeing that are buying these properties actually have Chinese connections and families with shops in China. It's a big learning curve and I think there is a lot of naivety with the Chinese that they can just come in and they grow the cherries and you pick them and that's it. But it's a lot more complicated than that as any orchardist would know.'
Tasmania remains the only Australian state with direct airfreight access to China.
