At least one mandarin grower in the Buronga/Mildura region straddling the Murray River are struggling to compete with a later Queensland harvest, now also being sold at the Sydney markets. “Our window of opportunity is the first week of June or so until mid-July,” says grower Joe Scopelliti. “This year we didn’t even get to start until the second week of July. We were just holding back, waiting for them to finish from up North.”
Boxes of Queensland mandarins were selling for $5 at the Sydney markets, Mr Scopelliti says. “I don’t know how they did it. It must have cost them money.”
Returns to growers of mandarins will be diminishing, according Mr Scopelliti. “It’s costing $80 just to pick for a bin, which I am aware of because I pack for other growers as well,” he adds. “I’m giving money out of my pocket at the moment, and returns are as low as $20 per bin, when our fruit is far superior to what comes out of Queensland because we don’t have to use gasification to help it ripen.”
Buronga, on the NSW side of the Murray River, is the ‘perfect’ land forgrowing citrus, Mr Scopelliti says. “We’ve got very hot summers and very cold winters. The fruit is premium quality but if I’m going to charge more I won’t get the same business.” Grading and size also matters to the major retailers. “I’m not a big packer where I can supply the major supermarkets. They will only take the two largest of 13 different sizes,” he adds.
Prices have not shifted enough to make the mandarin business viable, according to Mr Scopelliti. “I’ve been growing in this area, in this industry for 30 years and used to get $10-$12 per box. That’s still what I get to this day.” He also says that the juicing market does not offer high enough returns, because the Australian industry is flooded with cheap concentrate from Asia. “Juicing is dead in Australia. They’ve been dumping concentrate on the market for 10-15 years.”
