The weather in Australia is affecting fruit and vegetable production at the moment, but for the grape growers it just means a bit of a delay.
"In Western Australia, the early season crop is looking good," according to Ben Tanner from Fresh Produce Group. "On the eastern coast fruit is a bit light and in the south we are just getting bunch emergence now, but it is looking pretty good, the growing conditions have been good."
"We will start the harvest in Carnarvon, North western Australia soon; the season runs from November through to early January. Overall the grape season has been delayed by the cold wet spring which pushed harvest back by around two weeks
The Fresh Produce Group has 300ha in Mildura, Victoria, 80-90% of this will be exported to Asia. China is the main destination but they ship to many markets, including Thailand, Japan and Indonesia.
"We are licensed to grow Sun World varieties in WA and also varieties from the SNFL and IFG breeding programs across Australia. We grow predominately for the Asian and domestic market, so sweet, low acid varieties. Also good, strong varieties which can withstand shipping to these markets."
On a recent trip to China, Ben was pleased to see that high quality imported grapes in China are achieving the same kind of prices as grapes on the Australian market.
There is competition everywhere, "In Peru they produce very good grapes, but where we can differentiate from growers there is with our difference in day and night temperatures, which give us very high quality, sweet grapes."
Australia has high labour costs so needs to be at the top end of the market. They are known for their high quality and have a proven track record for clean green fruit. There is a certain demographic in China who are willing to pay a premium for the imported fruit, this is also true for other commodities, for example baby milk.
There are more people moving into this demographic, according to Ben. "Ten years ago it was different, they were looking for cheaper grapes, seeded varieties, now they are looking for seedless grapes with better taste."
