“The Australian Department of Agriculture is in the process of getting the Operational Work Plan for lychees and potentially mangoes updated, with the new OWP finalized in the coming days/weeks.” says Australian Lychee Growers Association Executive Officer, Jill Houser. “Only a small number of growers will be registered for the 3 year trial period, registration approval forms will need to be completed and then growers and orchards will be approved in August/September. Hopefully everything will be in place to start exporting from far north Queensland in November.”
The registration for lychee growers is waiting on final approvals from Canberra, and the official timeline will be released soon. While mango exports began in 2014 on a trial basis, and the first shipment left in February, no lychees have yet been shipped out of Australia, even on a test basis.
The lychee industry should do well if it can expand into new export markets, given the rather limited seasonal availability in the domestic market, which runs through Christmas time. Currently, irradiated lychees are exported to New Zealand on a seasonal basis and approval has also been obtained for the exporting of irradiated Australian lychees into Indonesia. Lychees are also being exported to a number of other overseas destinations including the UK, Tahiti, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, France and Hong Kong. Lychees are a $20 million a year industry, but that number may grow if China and other markets within Asia are opened up for access. The Australian Lychee industry has been waiting since 2002 to gain export approval into mainland China, with the irradiation protocol for the USA now approved, the industry is hoping China will be next.
Lychees may also become available for a longer season in Australia, after the government gave final approval to accept irradiated lychees from Vietnam on May 12, after the Vietnamese exporters waited 12 years to gain access.
