Currently, the South Korean market is hungry for Australian produce, with a single mango fetching up to $185. “In a department store, name the price. I've seen them anywhere 20,000 -150,000 WON ($25 - $185 AU),” says Marie Piccone from Manbullo Mangoes.
In 2010, Ms Piccone became the first Australian Mango producer to export to Korea and since then the appetite has only grown. The market is lucrative because Korea has very strict import regulations.
Manbullo spent $2.5million on a vapour heat treatment plant to meet the high quarantine standards and that is not where the expense ends. “It is very easy to loose fruit based on the fact that you are heating five tone at a time up to temperatures of 47 degrees, it’s not for the faint-hearted. If it was really easy, like some of the non-quarantine markets, everybody is in it. There’s just exporters and opportunists in those markets.”
Recently, a first shipment of Australian broccoli made its way to Korea. “We dealt with Korea’s largest exporter of broccoli. Previously sourcing broccoli from China and the US. But this broccoli from Australia was, the quality was terrific,” says Daniel Kim, the Queensland Trade and Investment Commissioner in Korea.
“The reality is that if you are patient enough, you are resilient enough to jump through those hoops, those same barriers work to your favour.”
According to tendaily.com.au, Australia’s ambassador to Korea James Choi has stated that there is room to grow our exports, “There are great opportunities for Australian businesses, we are recapturing market share.”
