Tuong Luu of Australian exporter Luu Global has noticed a shift in demand from his Vietnamese clients who have transitioned from purchasing mostly seeded red globe grapes to high-grade green seedless varieties over the past few seasons.
Luu said varieties like Autumn Crisp, which are firm, sweet and crunchy are proving popular in the market.
Adrian Caia, managing director of sales and marketing at GrapeCo Australia in Sunraysia echoed Luu’s sentiment, saying that he’d too noticed increased demand for green seedless varieties across South-East Asia.
“We have seen demand increases in Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore as we have a variety portfolio that is now fitting within their appetite with the likes of new crunchy green seedless, flavourful reds, and Sapphire for black,” he said.
In South-East Asia Luu provides a range of options for varying markets. “Vietnam and Thailand tend to take a premium grade, Indonesia is a big market for mid-range product and the Philippines is more price-focused, taking lower grades,” he said.
“Thailand still prefers big, firm and sweet Crimson Seedless grapes, Indonesia is taking the majority of mid-range of Red Globe, and the Philippines taking mostly lower grades of Crimson Seedless.”
