Singapore imports 70% of Australia's broccoli crop
It’s a niche demand that southern Queensland vegetable grower Troy Qualischefski is more than happy to meet, with passenger planes flying from Brisbane airport carrying 8kg boxes of his fresh broccoli in their freight holds two or three times a week.
His Qualipac broccoli sells for about $10kg in Singapore, with well-off local Chinese and expats rushing to buy Australian-grown fresh fruit and vegetables rather than cheaper product mainly from China, where proper chemical use and food safety are hard to guarantee.
Mr Qualischefski says it still amazes him how 100 staff can pick broccoli in the morning from his family’s Lockyer Valley farms near Gatton, just below the Toowoomba Range, pack it into boxes that afternoon and by the next night it can be winging its way to Singapore, arriving within two to three days of picking.
source: weeklytimesnow.com.au
