Table grape exporters are keen to get back to ‘business as usual’ following the reopening of the Vietnamese market to Australian imports. “Most importers have been very understanding I would suggest. As an industry we would have missed out on sending maybe 12,000-15,000 tonnes of grapes to Vietnam since the market closed in January,” says Jeff Scott, CEO of the Australian Table Grape Association. ”We’re very happy with the decision, and we’re doing everything we possibly can to reestablish relationships between growers and importers.”
"It is expected that our trade will get back to the level is was prior to the suspension."
Queensland and Western Australia should be the first states to start resending grapes, at the start of their season in October, Mr Scott says. “Growers from those areas may look at exporting as early as this coming season. It is possible some in other states have left over product from this season, but I don’t know about any sending shipments this soon.”
The $32 million table grape market makes up the bulk of Australia’s $40 million fresh produce trade with Vietnam, and is very similar to the Thai market, where importers like to receive smaller, but regular, shipments by air freight, as opposed to sea containers, according to David Minnis, Chair of the Australian Horticultural Exporters Association and owner of Minnis Horticultural Services. “It’s certainly a reasonable outcome for table grapes and citrus, but I’d love to be able to send cherries and stonefruit as well as grapes. As an exporter we are trying to recapture the full range.”
The Department of Agriculture will conduct a risk assessment in November, to determine whether Vietnamese mangoes will be allowed into Australia, and Mr Minnis says that the results of that risk assessment could dictate when Australian cherries and stonefruit are allowed back into Vietnam.
The air freight decision is determined by how prevalent fruitfly is in states wishing to export to Vietnam, and Mr Minnis says that the industry is doing all it can to ensure importers that air freight is fruitfly free from the Eastern states of Australia. “Imports resumed under the condition that we suppress the quantity of Mediterranean Fruit Fly (medfly), so we can still air freight from the Eastern Sea Board,” he says. Medfly only occurs in Western Australia, and Vietnam has accepted this, he adds. “Grape exporters will be able to airfreight the full range of grape varieties to Vietnam. We’ve been arguing the case for 10 years now, so it’s pleasing to see that Vietnam has acknowledged fruitfly free status for the Eastern states.”