Statistics, recently reported by the Australian Statistics Department, have demonstrated that, until the end of the fiscal year 2015/2016, a gross volume of almost 239 thousand tons of melons was produced. Melons are now ranked as the fifth commonly produced fruit or vegetables. The total cultivation area is 6,148 hectares. Each hectare can produce up to 38.9 tons, including honey melons and watermelons. Simultaneously, the continuous expansion of melon production is complemented by an export market that is also growing rapidly.
The global exports and market access consulting organization APCO has expressed its opinion on the prospects of exports by the Australian melon industry. Last year, Australian melons were sold across 23 different countries, and had a total value of 24 million USD. Currently, Australian melon exports have 10% of the market share in the Maldives, Malaysia and Chinese Hong Kong. In Japan they only hold 0.05% of the shares, but they have a huge and growing potential. It is estimated that exports will go up to 5,000 tons within the next three to five years.
APCO's trade manager, Danny Burrows, indicated that overseas melon markets posess large potential. For the past few years, the government has been signing agreements to get access to more markets, and in the mean- time the global demand for Australian high quality fruit has also been rising. Japan, South Korea, the Maldives, Malaysia and Hong Kong are the five largest export markets. The Chinese market has not yet been reached but should absolutely be striven for. Burrows says: This market 'has a gigantic scope and is very profitable."