Australian Lychee growers are seeing the fruits of their labour in the US this season, with the first major shipment ever resulting in positive feedback from both importers and consumers.
Favco Business Manager for Lychees and Tropicals, John Nardi, says this is an historic achievement for the Australian Lychee Industry with the first ever Lychees being shipped to the US, and demand is strong across the board.
“The importers in the U.S. are very keen to develop the market there with the main Australian varieties and the feedback so far from retailers is very positive. They are very impressed with the fruit quality compared to other imports they receive." he said.
“I am sure there is huge growth potential as US consumers seem to have a similar taste or palette to Australians and therefore our varieties should do very well.”
Favco sent it’s first shipment to the US on Tuesday 20th December 2016, and according to them, are the first Australian company to supply the US market with Australian Lychees.
Mr Nardi says the shipment contained a total of 242 cartons, as a first up trial, which they hope will be followed by many more.
For all of us involved it was particularly about ensuring that we could achieve the protocols and learn from the process,” he says, adding that Favco was fortunate to have support and commitment from a grower with a “long history of producing good export quality fruit”.
“We had originally anticipated that we would send up to 16 shipments but we wanted to make sure we could pass all the protocol requirements and successfully land the first shipment before we followed up with any further loads” Mr Nardi says.
He says it’s difficult to get an accurate gauge on demand from the US at this stage because the export program is still new, but that importers, retailers and consumers are keen to work on larger programs in the coming seasons and are very excited by the future prospects.
“They are excited by the future opportunities for all varieties to see if they can replicate the demand for Lychees with US consumers.”
He says Favco will be following up with our US importer (Favco USA) for a programmed supply for next season, “if we can source enough fruit from growers that are willing to go through the process of registering and meeting the Protocol requirements.”
“I think it is great opportunity and I would encourage growers to get on board,” he says.
