The small Queensland town of Giru is now at the centre of Australia's lucrative mango export business after the construction of a new fruit fly treatment facility there.
The state-of-the-art vapour heat treatment facility (VHT) is located at Horseshoe Lagoon and is run by Manbulloo Ltd, one of the five largest mango producers in Australia.
The construction of the facility heralds a breakthrough for the mango industry by allowing fruit to meet the strict quarantine requirements in Japan and China, the Townsville Bulletin reported.
One of only three such units in Australia, the treatment works by heating the mangoes to 47oC for 15 minutes.
Quarantine officials from both Japan and China inspected the facility in November and gave the VHT treatment their approval.
Queensland's acting minister for primary industries Peter Lawlor said in the first week of operation at the new facility 10 tonnes of mangoes were treated and exported to customers in Japan.
Mr Lawlor also said the first shipment of treated mangoes to China from the facility had been transported by air before Christmas.
On Monday, the first seafreighted shipment of treated mangoes left Brisbane bound for the lucrative pre-Chinese New Year market.
Good quality mangoes can fetch prices as high as A$120 each in some key Asian markets, and the Queensland mango industry was worth A$50m last season, with exports from the state totalling 2,618 tonnes at a value of A$11.8m.
'We expect to further boost exports in Asia with the trialling of seafreight shipments to Japan and China and continuing in-market research and monitoring of shipments,' Mr Lawlor said.
Manbulloo Ltd managing director Marie Piccone said building the treatment centre was a bold move for the company as an earlier facility based in Burdekin had proved unsustainable due to a lack of quality produce.
''We've been sending product (to Japan and China) using other facilities for the last two years, but we decided the cost and opportunities to find additional markets was worth the risk to build our own VHT facility,'' Ms Piccone said.
''And while the rewards can be quite lucrative it's certainly not a low-risk venture.
''The markets are very particular, and the fruit must be blushed, unblemished and free of ripe fruit rot and that supply of quality fruit is our major concern.
''But in saying that, at this stage we're pleased with progress we are making,' she said.
