Citrus Australia is looking to ramp up its Asian promotional campaigns in a bid to increase the industry’s profitability.
“What we have to do is promote the seasonality,” Citrus Australia chairwoman Tania Chapman told the ABC.
“Do we do enough to promote ourselves in those Asian countries? Not at all, which is why Citrus Australia is having meetings at the moment trying to determine how can we promote citrus as a whole in those Asian countries.”
For many years the US was the largest and most lucrative destination for Australian citrus exports.
However, growers and exporters have had to seek alternate markets in recent times, after being squeezed out of Northern America by lower cost suppliers such as Chile and South America.
While Asian markets have shown gradually increasing signs of growth over the last decade, the industry achieved a breakthrough in China last year, with the number of direct shipments rising sharply.
New South Wales citrus grower John Keam believes marketing is the key to developing more of a presence in Asia, telling the ABC the time to act is now.
“I believe they (Australia’s citrus industry) haven't seen the light. They haven't got a vision for the future,” Keam said.
“They've got their head in the sand and if we don't tell people what precisely we've got and value add it, we're never going to get more money for it.
“We're going to be below the average of everyone else.”
