The second stage of the Future Focus report has identified export and increased domestic demand as areas of growth for the Australian horticulture industry.
The Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) backed report says an increase in domestic demand is feasible with population growth and higher per capita consumption, according to The Weekly Times.
Expansion of exports was the key to growth, according to HAL chief executive John Webster, who said A$1.7bn of the A$2.45bn potential growth was attributed to exports.
“Market access is certainly an issue. The report identifies that a lot of the export opportunity requires market access,” he said, adding China was the number one priority.
Australian consumption of fruit and vegetables is comparatively low for a first world country, according to the report, giving room to grow domestic demand through education programmes.
AusVeg chairman David Anderson took a more cautious view, calling the growth figures in the report ambitious.
“While it (the report) talks about an increase in domestic consumption and population, a lot of it (the possible growth) hinges around export consumption, and assumes significantly increased market access,” he said.
“Unless there are some quantum changes in philosophy, I think it would be ambitious.”
