“The bigger issue is that the supply from China is increasing” – Sam Vasala, Sai World

This season’s Australian citrus harvest is all but complete for South Australian company Sai World, where they are just finishing the packing of Afourer mandarins.

“We have finished with the Navels and are packing the last of the Afourer mandarins,” said Sam Vasala from the company. “We have had a bit of a challenging season with a lot of blemishes on the fruit, which resulted in more class II and class III fruit.

“We have still exported to all of our main export markets, which include Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Japan. Higher blemishes were the same across the region; in fact, in most growing areas in Australia, it’s just something we have to live with. “In general, it was a decent market.”

Sam said the blemishes were caused by a hot summer with a lot of wind, which damaged the skin on the oranges.

Market demand
Demand on the domestic market has been consistent, but it is now dropping off. This is also true for the export markets; most exporters have now loaded for the autumn festival.

“We always have a bit of competition from South Africa who also has good quality fruit and cheaper input costs, but if people want South African fruit, they buy South African; the same goes for Australian fruit.

Increased Chinese production
“The bigger issue is that the supply from China is increasing, making our export window smaller. We used to be able to supply until October/ November, but now China is already in play by that time. It is not so much that the quality is better or that the fruit from China is much cheaper; it is just that they have a much shorter shipping time. China, like everyone else, is getting better at what they do; no one wants to supply bad quality.

“The production cost in China is lower, and they are producing on a large scale; they also now have much better machinery and tech in the packhouses. Everyone has to get better; when things become more automated, we will get cheaper too.

Automation
“If you look at how tech in the packhouses has changed over recent years, we are already using less labour and getting better quality packouts. Producing countries are becoming more competitive on the world stage, but labour is still expensive in some of them.”

“At the moment, citrus is all hand-picked; in ten years’ time we may have robots picking the fruit; it’s possibly already being done.

“I believe that where there is a problem there is always a solution; we will innovate to make production cheaper. Look at what has been done in packing sheds; it is a big investment to begin with, but it pays in the end with higher production.”

For more information:
Sam Vasala
Sai World Pty Ltd
Tel: +61 (0) 7 5641 2217
Mob: +61 47040 6579
Email: sam@saiworld.com.au
www.saiworld.com.auPublication date: Thu 17 Sep 2026

© FreshPlaza.com / Nichola McGregor