Australian lemon growers should export

Australia is seeing an increase in lemon plantings, as well as increase from new growers entering the industry, says Citrus Australia. With this increased growth, there is a push for lemon growers to export produce.

According to Queensland grower Michael McMahon from Abbotsleigh Citrus -part of the Nutrano Produce group- only 4% of Australian lemons are exported, and with 9% going into processing, 87% are sold onto the domestic market.

Nielsen Homescan Data shows that 50.6% of domestic shoppers buy lemons, last year, consuming 2kg of these a year. Sales spike during Easter in line with fish sales, and they spike again during Greek Easter, said McMahon.

Abbotsleigh Citrus has made a concerted effort to export more lemons in recent years and develop new markets to avoid the rising tide of Australian-grown lemons and to gain an advantage on exports from South Africa and South America.

The prices Abbotsleigh received in Indonesia for lemons recently was lower than the domestic market. “We still made a profit but we’re thinking long-term and investing in development of export markets,” McMahon told foodmag.com.au. He sees opportunities in China, Indonesia, Japan, Canada and the USA.

Hong Kong and Singapore are easy markets for most countries to access, while Indonesia can be unreliable due to quotas, according to Citrus Australia.

Publication date : 10/29/2018

Source: www.freshplaza.com