The narrow concentration of Australia's banana industry is a cause for concern, according to supermarket group Woolworths, which has expressed fears that a natural disaster could wipe out production and open the doors to import competitors.
Woolworths national general manager for fresh foods Michael Batycki has urged the industry to spread production away from Tully and Innisfail in north Queensland to guard against mass losses that could arise from a cyclone or similar weather issues.
Cyclone Larry, which hit the areas in 2006 and wiped out 90-95 per cent of the banana crop, provided good reason for growers to look at other regions for production, he told farmonline.com.
However, he said that Woolworths would be standing by domestic growers in the face of Biosecurity Australia's approval for Philippine banana imports, and had not even considered discussions with Filipino suppliers.
