AU Sumo citrus madarin

The Australian citrus industry has recently seen strong growth in export markets, and ‘continued unprecedented demand’ according to Citrus Australia.

To ensure the industry is keeping abreast of market and export trends, Citrus Australia has gathered a host of international industry experts to speak at this year’s Market Outlook Forum on March 14-15.

The now sold-out event demonstrates the importance of growth in the citrus sector and will highlight topics like the impact of ecommerce on retail, and domestic and international developments in key markets.

One of the event’s keynote speakers Tristan Kitchener will discuss how the Australian citrus industry can take advantage of the seismic shift that e-commerce is creating in the retail sector.

Amazon entered Australia’s e-commerce landscape to much fanfare last year, and Kitchener believes that its impact on the sector is yet to be fully realised.

Amazon offers 320 million products, compared to Woolworths’ 20,000 and Coles’ 17,000. This combined with their data forecasting technology gives the tech giant “phenomenal ability” to predict consumer behaviour, according to Kitchener.

Noel Shield of JWM Asia Holdings will speak about the changing retail landscape in Asia, and how Australia can shore up its position as a high-value high-quality marketer.

Australian citrus has seen excellent success in quality standards during 2017 with 84 per cent of fruit passing quality standards and 100 per cent of Late Navels and Murcotts, according to Citrus Australia.