Australian citrus finger limes are increasingly finding fame on the menus of top restaurants, both domestically and overseas. But like macadamia nuts, finger limes are at risk of losing their Australian identity with the fruit already being produced in larger quantities overseas.
Ian Douglas, owner of the Australian Finger Lime Caviar Co.: "In Mexico and Guatemala, there are two operations that would probably have in the ground, each of them as many trees as the whole of the industry here in this country.”
With growers in Europe and the Americas, there are concerns local producers will struggle to keep hold of export markets and may even lose out in Australia.
For now, Mr Douglas says Australia still has an edge against its competitors. "We still have two major advantages," he said. "One is access to quality varieties in the rainforest, and we have access to knowledge that's been built up by Australian specialist knowledge. And I would hate to see any of those two things further shared with overseas growers because they have nothing to gain by helping the Australian finger lime industry.”
Source: abc.net.au