As well as being able to export more fruits and vegetables, the main hope is to export research techniques, new technology and processes to help Indian growers yield better crops. “As India undergoes rapid economic and social change, Australia is well placed to not only provide more traditional exports such as food and energy, but also service-based exports, which will help India unlock its vast potential in the decades ahead,” says Minister Robb. The Minister’s office also confirmed that the mission was about getting Australian expertise into India to help them develop better practices. That includes building relationships and identifying areas of mutual interest.
In Australia horticultural exports reached a record high value of $1.5bn during 2013-14, and that record could be broken following trade agreements with China, Japan and Korea. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India would provide a further boost, as the real value of agrifood demand there is set to rise by 136% in coming years. That demand will originate from a rapidly growing, young middle class sector, and a population set to outgrow China’s by 2030. “India is akin to China when it comes to middle class wealth. Increasing income levels in India have led to a diversification of diets, with rising per person consumption of dairy products, fruit and vegetables," says Australian Horticultural Exporter’s Association (AHEA) Executive Director, Michelle Christoe. “As in China where citrus has gone from very small to large export quantities, we see India as having potential for that sort of growth.”
In an environment where Australian labour rates and transport costs are high that growth will be reliant on tariff reduction, however, which would only be brought about by a concluded agreement. The AHEA’s submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) was primarily about tariff reduction, as current tariffs cause a loss of 25-40% to growers and that is ‘significant’ according to Ms Christoe.
Currently Australia only exports about $2.7 million worth of fresh fruit and vegetables to India, but growers in Australia have access to table grapes, cherries, plums, oranges and mandarins that could be exported, and would be ready to move more, according to Ms Christoe.
Ms Christoe listed Australia’s historical ties with India and close proximity as favourable indicators for an agreement this year. She emphasised both countries’ love for Cricket, and growing cultural commonalities. An FTA with India would help strengthen those ties, and could help Australia weather incidents and closures in other markets better, according to her. One such incident includes the recent closure of the Vietnam market to Australian growers. “The Vietnam closure is devastating. It is a very important growing market in the Asian region. You can’t just regain those ties when you’re dealing with other markets,” added Ms Christoe. She also pointed out that growers did not re-establish relationships with Taiwan following a similar closure five years ago.