Australia is well known for its fruit exports, but what about its vegetables? Australian companies put on quite a show at the recent Asia Fruit Logisitca in Hong Kong and alongside the fruit exporters there were many vegetable producers and exporters.
One Australian company, Fresh Select, has been growing Australian salads and brassicas for around 60 years and now supply wholesalers and retailers in Australia and East Asia. The Naked Lettuce Company brand is used mainly for export but also used in the domestic market.
The product range includes, lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, Brussel sprouts and kalettes.
"We export to Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong at the moment," explains John. "There has been significant growth in these markets in recent years, predominately in Singapore and Hong Kong, but Malaysia is also a seeing an increasing demand for Australian vegetables. We supply whole head fresh salad products, the only packing is for some of the salad lines which are flow wrapped for convenience."
Australian produce has the reputation of being clean and green. Consumers throughout East Asia have had a taste of Chinese vegetables and while they have a place in the market, Australian vegetables have that food safety image which resonates with lots of consumers across east Asia, according to John.
"South Korea is a potential market," said John. "They grow a lot of their own vegetables, however we have seen increased interest from there. The Middle East, which has always looked for Australian produce, is also showing an increased demand especially through Dubai."
It has also become obvious that Asian consumers are looking for innovation, "We had our kalettes on the stand in Hong Kong and there was huge interest in those and also in our new baby broccoli varieties."
At this stage Fresh Select only exports around 3% of their production but are looking to increase that to between 5 and 7%.
"Asia Fruit Logistica was a great opportunity for us to connect with our existing customers and also an opportunity to look into different segments and see what the rest of the world is doing."
