The growing volume of cucumber production and supply in Australia is keeping prices for it low in Australia despite market and consumer demand for them.
Eden Farms General Manager Andrew McKillop says the season has been going well so far, but the volume of cucumbers on the market means prices are down for growers.
“Production is good but markets are poor, prices are poor due to competition and high volume,” he says.
“Demand is there but there’s so much volume that consumer demand doesn’t have much effect. The market’s reached a saturation point – even Lebanese cucumbers haven’t seen price growth, even during the traditional price increase period of Christmas.”
Eden Farms main line is Continental cucumbers, but it also grows some small snacking cucumbers, with a total of 12 hectares of greenhouses in the Bundaberg region of Queensland. The company is one of the biggest cucumber producers in the Southern Hemisphere and supplies major chains all along the eastern seaboard of Australia.
Mr McKillop says Eden Farms is fortunate because 90% of their produce goes direct to customers, but that it is tough for a lot of other growers in Australia at the moment that don’t have that direct market access.
“It’s just the sheer volume of cucumbers means the prices don’t really change with demand,” he says.
“There’s a lot of cucumbers produced in Australia already and now there’s also developments in a few different places that could make it really hard for smaller growers.”
In 2015, cucumber production in Western Australia increased the volume of fruit on the market significantly, with one company – 4 Ways Fresh Produce – building 300 growing tunnels on 54 hectares of land at Bootenal. The company has said each tunnel will produce 15,000 cucumbers, and started harvesting in June and July last year.
Mr McKillop said the volumes of cucumbers meant that growers need to place even greater emphasis on quality and supply chains if they wanted to have sustainable business.
“The quality output has to be higher if you want to get a good price. You’ve got to have access to premium markets and markets that recognise product quality and value.”
While prices are a challenge for growers, Mr McKillop says they have had a good season so far.
“Our cucumbers are coming along reasonably well, we’ve had a pretty good season for Bundaberg so far, with not too much heat through spring and summer,” he says.
“It looks as though we are about to experience a bit of heat but we’re used to that so we’re managing that reasonably well.”
