Western Australia’s emerging citrus industry has achieved an export milestone this year with its first-ever direct shipments of navel oranges to China.
The breakthrough was made by two of the state’s leading growers – Moora Citrus and Agrifresh– following their successful efforts to comply with China’s quarantine protocol.
Both companies began preparing their orchards several months in advance of the first shipments in order to meet the strict requirements of the protocol.
“Each orchard block must be registered for China and you have to ensure there are ‘zeros’ recorded for all pests,” explained Agrifresh’s George Lim. “Trees must be skirted to meet the criteria. There are also numerous procedures to follow with packing and storage to meet the requirements of the protocol.”
Agrifresh sent its first shipments to China in August, with fruit arriving in Shanghai after a three-week journey. “As this was our first year, we sent a trial volume of around 11 tonnes,” Lim told Asiafruit. “But the fruit was well-received and next year we will definitely increase the volumes. We’ll register a lot more orchard blocks for China next year and we hope to get 250 tonnes into China.”
Young plantings
Agrifresh’s citrus plantings are young, with more fruit coming into production each year. Altogether, the company has around 245ha planted to citrus, with navels making up 140ha, and Lim said production is expected to top 10,000 tonnes over the next four years.
Moora Citrus is also witnessing rapid growth in production. Having planted its first trees just five years ago, the company has established itself as Western Australia’s largest citrus grower.
While Moora Citrus’ sales programmes have focused almost exclusively on the WA domestic market until now, the company’s Suzie Ellis Jones said that export destinations in Asia have always been in its sights. “This year was the first year we were able to commit to exporting fruit at reasonable quantities,” she explained. “Our first container was sent in July and we will continue exporting throughout October 2015.”
Ellis Jones said the experience of growing and shipping to China and been a very positive one for the company.
“Moora Citrus has strict policies and procedures when it comes to growing our citrus and these have been further improved to allow us to meet the requirements of China and the other Asian markets,” she said. “Our orchard has always focused on weed control, monitoring that our trees are free from pests and diseases and keeping on top of our Integrated Pest Management system but with the Chinese protocols these are now at an even higher standard.”
“We have learned a lot about export and in particular what needs to be done to ensure citrus travels well from WA to China,” she added. “On the whole we have received great feedback from our export agent/buyers and we are very excited for the future of our export business.”
While providing fresh fruit to West Australian consumers remains its priority, Moora Citrus expects the state’s production to outstrip local demand over the next four years as its orchards reach full maturity, according to Ellis Jones. “As a result, our partners in China and other parts of Asia will be an important part of the Moora Citrus family and we plan on building on those strong relationships that will create opportunities for everyone over the next 25 years,” she said.
