Citrus and table grape industry leaders fear that some Australia-based Chinese companies are jeopardising hard-won export markets in mainland China by buying fresh fruit directly from local producers.
For the last year, companies have been approaching local citrus growers and offering quick cash for their best fruit. They employ large teams of pickers, mainly backpackers, to cherry-pick premium fruit which is packed locally and shipped to Hong Kong.
Australian Table Grape Association chief executive Jeff Scott said that reports had been circulating for some time that local Chinese buyers were also cashing in on the strong demand for Australian table grapes in China and were approaching growers with "suitcases full of cash", offering to buy their grapes.
Sunraysia Daily was told that last year, a producer had sold oranges to one of the Chinese companies for $110 a bin, with two teams of pickers taking just two days to pick 800 bins of top quality navels.
