An exciting opportunity has opened up for a Western Australian food consortium, which has begun exporting a major shipment of apples to Hong Kong.
Southern Forest Food Council will send 90,000 Granny Smith apples to Good View Fruits in the Asian nation. Produce Coordinator John Kilrain says the first shipment is on the water, but the network has been building over the last two years, before finalising the deal with the company that has connections with retailers, hotel chains and an airline.
"Our partnership arrangement with Allstates Farms and their facilities in Canning Vale allowed us to consolidate the orders without any great deal of fuss," he said. "This was a critical step for us. Last year we carried out several small Av trials of several different fruit and vegetable lines to another Hong Kong client. The learnings from this have been used to now supply bigger clients in much bigger volumes. The Southern Forests Food Council with its partner AllsStates Farms need to demonstrate to producers that these opportunities do exist."
Mr Kilrain says it is an important time for the state's apple industry which is in oversupply, with producing regions having good seasons which have created large yields.
"It’s very important that we can open up some new opportunities as apples are being pushed out all across Western Australia as the avocado price continues to climb," Mr Kilrain said. "Unfortunately the current pricing is unsustainable for apple producers and avocado plantings are continuing to replace them."
Southern Forest Food Council realises how important exports are to Western Australia, which continually sees supply exceed demand.
"Western Australia produces way more produce than we can consume so we need to develop these markets," Mr Kilrain said. "If you produce more than you can consume that creates downward price pressure."
Mr Kilrain says he will continue to explore opportunities, especially in Asia, where he says demand is not only driven by population numbers, but palate for quality fruit.
"Australian fruit has a very good name for quality and our geographical location puts us in a good position to supply these markets," he said. "It’s our clean green image that allows us to explore these markets and the Southern Forests region of Western Australia is certainly a very well hidden secret producing over 50 different fruits and vegetables way down south of WA. It’s not all about price, yes it is very competitive but opportunities do exist and some consumers will pay more for quality product."
Southern Forest Food Council produces 50 per cent of Western Australia’s apple production, in the Shire of Manjimup. It was established in September 2012 to represent the interests of a wide variety of local producers, with over 50 types of fruit and vegetables, and promote the status as one of the nation’s key future food bowls and culinary tourism regions.
Initially three growers will be involved with this Hong Kong export deal.
For more information:
John Kilrain
Southern Forest Food Council