Costa Group calls for fresh action on Australian produce exports

Costa Group has reiterated calls for a whole of government approach to ensuring new export market access opportunities for Australia’s fresh produce.

Marc Werner, chief executive of the leading Australian fresh produce company, spoke at The Australian Global Food Forum held in Brisbane on 17 July, and highlighted the challenges the fresh produce sector faces in getting access to crucial markets in China and Japan, for some of its key produce lines.

“Free trade agreements have been very beneficial for Australian agriculture, including fresh produce growers and over the past 15 years, Costa and many others have benefitted from free trade agreements with Japan, China, the US, Korea and India,” Werner said.

“However, free trade agreements only address tariffs, they do not address what are known as non-trade barriers, including the negotiation of export protocols, which are often related to the treatment of fresh produce for fruit fly.”

Werner said these negotiations for fresh produce often took many years, leaving Australian produce well behind compared with other countries such as Mexica, Peru, Chile and Argentina.

“Our Australian fresh produce does not seem to attract the same trade priority and political support at the highest levels that other agricultural items, such as wine, meat, grain and more recently lobster, seem to benefit from,” he said.

“In the instance of blueberries, for example, Australia is a global leader in the development and growing of premium varieties, yet we have had to sit by over the last decade and watch other countries with inferior product gain access to China.”

Gaining access to Japan for Queensland grown avocados is another key opportunity which has yet to come to fruition.

“Australia currently has access to Japan for Western Australian grown avocados, but not Queensland grown product, where 65 per cent of Australia’s avocados are grown. The oversupply in the domestic market could be greatly helped by resolving this lack of access,” Werner said.

“Opening up export market opportunities would also provide fresh produce growers with much greater leverage in the domestic market and in the way they interact with supermarkets.”