Talk of penalties on table grape imports, and better information on exports, has ramped up. The talks come after a year of major trading losses for Qld table grape growers leading to the closure of a major St George vineyard and the dozing of a second in Queensland’s South-West. “That’s what happens when supermarkets underpay growers,” says wine and table grape grower David Blacket, of Riversands Vineyards, St George, of the closures.
“If we are going to survive, we must become export ready in the medium term. However, funding cycles are very much short term. To develop export programs we need longer term funding programs,” says Mr Blacket.
Mr Blacket has been in discussions with the Department of Primary industries about the situation on Wednesday. He was also trying to get the message across that agents with staff in countries growers are exporting to are key to success. "Agents have got to be partners in the chain. But you can lose your shirt with exports too.” “Export has very specific requirements, particularly with respect to protocols. You’ve got to have the right viticulture and specs. I was trying to get that across to the department and Austrade,” he adds.
“Domestically we have oversupply from excessive plantings in Emerald. Too much imported fruit has really hurt the industry this year too.”
Queensland could position itself well for expanding export markets, which could take pressure off an oversupplied domestic market, according to Mr Blacket."Some of the early domestic fruit is not sweet, which reduces buying volumes. We’re trying to say to Coles and Woolworths ‘you need to observe your own standards,'” he says. "In addition the glut of table grapes led to long delays in sale of fruit with consumers not getting fresh fruit. Fruit stored for up to 6 weeks looks tired and old!”
Assistance for growers to export successfully to trading partners is on the way, and will come from the Australian Table Grape Association in Mildura, according to Richard Lomman, chairman of the ATGA. “The ATGA is already working on an export manual. Initially it wasn’t focusing on maturity, but that will now be a factor,” he says. “This year’s issues haven’t been as much the fault of the growers as buyers flying directly to the vineyards from China to pick and purchase their own grapes too early.”
Overall, Mr Lomman says the export market is improving and there are varieties of grapes more suitable to be exported. The Japanese and Korean markets have both improved. Japan accepted 100 more containers, while Korea accepted 30 containers this year up from just half a container in 2014.
For more information
Australian Table Grape Association
Phone: +61340090127
E-mail: atga@ncable.com.au
Website: http://www.australiangrapes.com.au/