The Australian summerfruit industry is looking forward to a strong export season to Vietnam, with market access reopening to the country for the first time since 2015.
Last month, a group of growers, exports and industry body representatives went on a "reverse trade mission" to both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, organised by Summerfruit Australia Limited (SAL) and Summerfruit Export Development Alliance (SEDA).
"It is a pivotal moment for our industry to have 17 delegates attend the event and showcase what can be achieved with unity," Summerfruit Australia Director, Dean Morpeth said.
"I am dedicated to ensuring our industry unites and moves forward in a positive direction, and this event gave everyone great satisfaction; (SEDA) chairman Ian McAlister did a great job of leading the delegation. We had three days in Hanoi and two days in Ho Chi Minh City. We had an official event hosted by Austrade, with 30-35 importers from both wholesale and retail, and we had the opportunity to give a presentation on our industry, fruit handling, and product specs - and this was followed by lunch and a networking session. Austrade organised a retail tour and went around multiple stores to learn about what they present, where they position products in store and how they present with different standards. We repeated all of this again in Ho Chi Minh City. So, it was an amazing trip.”
Mr Morpeth is also a committee member of SEDA which is a subcommittee of Summerfruit Australia that has been established to represent the stone fruit growers as a united group to facilitate the development and maintenance of export markets. He added that Vietnam is an important market for Australian growers.
"It is our first year back after losing trade back in 2015," he said. "At the end of last season, we were able to do a trial to learn the procedures, so with the small amount of fruit that went over, it was really successful. We are now entering our first full season. It is exciting and is a great market because it takes a bit of pressure off the other markets and gives us more options. Market access is really important for our industry right now. We are behind other commodities with countries we have access to, so to open up one is fantastic to take the pressure off the reliance on the domestic market, but we need to keep working on a few more."
Australia will send yellow and white flesh peaches and nectarines to Vietnam, and demand is expected to be high.
"One of our key strengths is our integrity; the clean and green reputation of Australia," Mr Morpeth said. "They really enjoy the flavour that came from the Australian fruit. It is a new market for nectarines and peaches, so it provides a great opportunity for us to get the right quality fruit over there from day one and set a standard as we are aware it is a high-quality driven market. At this stage nectarines and peaches have access, and as an industry, we are still trying to get plums direct access. That was another important part of the trip was to represent our desire to get access for plums.”
Another positive for the summerfruit season in 2022/23 is the new varieties which are expected to drive sales both domestically and internationally, according to Mr Morpeth.
“I think as an industry there has been some great consolidation in varieties,” Mr Morpeth said. “There are a number of amazing new varieties of high-quality that we will start to see available to consumers. I think that consumers will be excited to try those and that will increase consumption levels domestically, after what has been somewhat of a downward trend in recent years. I think the new varieties will definitely help that and give consumers a great summer experience."
For more information
Dean Morpeth
Summerfruit Export Development Alliance
Phone:+61 3 5825 3700
www.sedaexport.com.au
seda@summerfruit.com.au