Australia’s stonefruit exporters are looking forward to the later date of Chinese New Year festivities next year, with the 14 February timing meaning more varieties will be available, particularly so for plums and peaches.
Hong Kong/China represents the big opportunity for sales over the period, but the later timing may be a double-edged sword for Australian suppliers by opening up opportunities for Chile.
“It will be interesting to see what the response out of Hong Kong/China will be because of the later date. China took a lot of Australian fruit last year, but since it’s later they might take more fruit from Chile,” explained Rowan Little of stonefruit grower-packer-marketer Montague Fresh.
Chile’s earlier seafreighted fruit is expected to make it to Asian markets in time for 14 February.
Taiwan’s status for Australian stonefruit is still unknown – announcements in October that a reopening of the market was close have so far yielded no results, and industry figures are concerned an agreement may not come in time for this season.
“We haven’t had any extra information, and we’re not sure what’s holding it up,” industry peak body Summerfruit Australia’s chairman Ian McAllister told Fruitnet.com.
“We don’t need to be there until January, and my hope is we would be back in Taiwan by then, but it’s all a bit cloak and dagger at the moment.”
Horticulture Australia Ltd (HAL) has drawn up a contingency plan to support product in Taiwan if the market opens up in time, including a trade launch, PR campaign and in-store promotions.
Promotion plans
Australia’s stonefruit offering will be pushed by a coordinated promotion campaign across Asia during Chinese New Year, organised jointly by HAL and Summerfruit Australia.
Promotion planning was set in motion yesterday with HAL’s launch of a cooperative project with exporters, offering to match dollar for dollar the funding companies commit to in-store promotions.
“We’re pushing to do in-store promotions,” explained Agnes Barnard, HAL’s marketing manager for stonefruit and coordinator of the season’s promotional efforts.
“We’re looking at point-of-sale materials to promote generic Australian stonefruit; peaches, plums, nectarines, etc.”
Mr Barnard said HAL and Summerfruit Australia are working with exporters to organise in-store tasting as part of the promotions.
“We have to still wait for applications to come through from retailers, and we’re quite open to different markets depending on how strategic and robust their proposals are,” Ms Barnard told Fruitnet.com. “We’re looking at Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, but we’re not limiting it to particular markets.”
On offer
Australia’s eastern regions will provide the majority of the country’s peach and nectarine offering.
“The peaches on offer will be white-fleshed varieties, like Snow King, the nectarines will be varieties like Fire Pearl, and plums will be varieties like Amber Jewel,” Brian Ceresa of grower-packer-marketer Delica told Fruitnet.com.
Western Australia's export offering mainly consists of plums, according to Mark Pidgeon of WA-based United Exports.
“We’ll have three major varieties available, up to and including Amber Jewel,” he detailed. “The timing works out quite well.”
Early harvests have been low across the country after heavy rains in the east and a mild spring in WA, but growers expect a return to normal by the season’s peak in January.
Late season varieties in the eastern states are expecting to be slightly lighter than the 2008/09 crop.
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