Citrus Australia is the peak industry body representing Australian citrus growers and setting the direction that the sector is taking, and in this sense, according to CEO Judith Damiani, “our strategic direction at the moment is to focus on market development, particularly in the export area. We also work on biosecurity, providing communication and information services for our industry. [In the discussion of] government policies that can affect our industry, we represent the growers to that effect.”
One of the big issues at the moment is the so-called Backpacker tax that the federal government plans to implement on the 1st of July, “which we strongly oppose and for which we have proposed an alternative. July is our peak harvest and export month, so we want to prevent any disruptions at that critical time of the year. Our alternative is a flat tax rate of around 19%, to put us on an equal footing with New Zealand and Canada.”
She explains that issues at national level tend to be on the labour side. “Besides the Backpacker tax, there is also the Horticulture Award for people who work in the horticultural industry, which is up for review at the moment. Besides labour, other issues have to do with farm inputs, like water or agrochemicals, including access to new chemicals by our growers. Also export access and trade, which is a huge area.”
In fact, citrus is Australia’s most exported fresh fruit, with shipments going to over 40 countries, and “while we have access to every market that we want, we need improved access and better trade conditions, as well as more market development. A lot of our traditional destinations (Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc.) have also changed their quarantine regulations and improved their capabilities in that area, and we work very closely with their governments in that,” she affirms.
As a far as export figures are concerned, in 2015 Australia broke every record. She states that “we exported over 202,000 tonnes of citrus valued at 280 million dollars. In terms of volume, Hong Kong is our biggest market (about 44,000 tonnes shipped last year), followed by Japan (about 29,000 tonnes) and China (about 28,000 tonnes),” with prospects of China overtaking Japan this year. “By value, China is our biggest market, with about 53 million dollars, followed by Hong Kong (about 47 million) and Japan (about 39 million). Thanks to our shorter transit times, we have a competitive advantage in Asia, which is the fastest growing market.”
Going back to the issues of growers, another of the most relevant problems is the distribution of water. “Ms Damiani assures that “everyone is now waiting to see what the allocations will be for the next 12 months. Some regions face challenges when it comes to access to water, so that will always be a problems for some parts of Australia.” She explains that the water allocation process, which is state-based, is really complicated, with many institutions involved. “What is nice to hear from the current government is the commitment to look at water storage and dams for the future. It is something we haven’t done well in the last 30 years.”
In terms of acreage, the largest citrus growing region in Australia is the Riverina, in New South Wales, which according to Ms Damiani produces mostly juicing oranges for the fresh juice
market. “Then you have the Murray Valley and Riverland (in South Australia), which are the largest exporters, and Queensland, which is focused on mandarins and lemons. Then there are some small patches in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.”
As for the most common varieties, she explains that there has been a move towards easy-peelers and mandarins, “as growers are getting out of the juice market, with statistics showing that Valencias are in decline and Navels (probably the biggest variety) are increasing only slightly. In fact, over the next 10 years we forecast a 45% growth of easy-peelers in this country. There have also been more plantings of lemons and limes, so we are looking whether we can facilitate any export opportunities for the smaller varieties.”
Choosing the right rootstock and variety to plant is, in fact, the second biggest issue after water. “There are many varieties out there and we try to provide [the growers] with independent evaluations, whether of public or private varieties, to give them access to as much information as possible, so that they can make the best choice for their local growing conditions or within their marketing chain,” affirms Ms Damiani.
Looking at the future, the CEO of Citrus Australia believes that what is critical is that the market demand will grow, so “if the industry is focused on producing the quality fruit that can be delivered to those markets, we’ll be able to ship more of our crops, which is really exciting. A lot of investment is going into the packing sector, and a lot of young people are inclined to take over the farms, so I believe people are really focused on achieving that.”
