Exports

Australian Horticultural Exports

Introduction:
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the 22 million people living in Australia represents only 0.003% of the world's population. This amounts to a colossal potential market of some 6700 billion people living outside of Australia.
In 2008, Australia's total exports of all goods and services totaled AUD 279.3 billion (140% higher than in 1998), within which agricultural exports accounted for 3.8% (down from 8.5% in 1998). As these statistics show, agribusiness holds a significant part of Australia's total business production of goods.
The total area under production in Australia is about 250,000 ha.

Horticulture: The Australian horticulture industry is the second largest agricultural industry in Australia, comprising fruit, vegetables, nuts, flowers, turf and nursery products.  In 2006-07, Horticulture in Australia had a gross value of production of AUD 9.2 billion (increased from AUD 8.3 billion in 2005-06), placing it behind only the meat industry in size.
 Total horticultural exports in 2006/07 were valued at AUD 759.2 million.  This figure declined in 06-07 to levels consistent with the trade performance of the late nineties.  This is mainly due to substantial declines over the past 3 years into major markets such as Hong Kong, Japan, China, Malaysia, Korea, the US and Singapore, as a result of many factors, including introduction of new quarantine protocols in many of these countries.

Employment: The number of people employed in the Agriculture and Services industries increased marginally in 2007 (the first increase in 5 years) to 334,000 persons.
Horticulture remains relatively labour intensive and employs some 81,500 people growing fruit, vegetables and nuts for the domestic and export markets, 9,300 are employed in fruit and vegetable processing, and there are an estimated 175,000 seasonal positions made available each year. 
This translates to 27% of total employment in agriculture being within horticulture.

Major growing Regions

The major growing areas for horticulture in Australia include the Goulburn Valley of Victoria; the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area of New South Wales; the Sunraysia district of Victoria/NSW; the Riverland region of South Australia; Northern Tasmania; South West Western Australia and the coastal strip of both New South Wales and Queensland.

Major Horticultural Varieties Grown

Banana, pineapple, mandarin, avocado, mango, passionfruit, strawberries and fresh tomato production is concentrated in Queensland. Stonefruit, oranges and grapes from New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Potatoes and Peas from Tasmania. Pears and tomatoes from Victoria. Apples and vegetables from all states.

In addition, Asian vegetables and tropical fruit such as bananas, mangoes, avocadoes, papaya, lychees, melons, rambutans, durians, carambolas, jackfruit and mangosteens are particularly grown in the Burdekin river region of Queensland and the Ord river region in Western Australia.

Main Horticultural produce exported:

Citrus, apples, pears, stonefruit, grapes and some exotic fruits, are the main products exported, along with a selection of vegetable varieties.

Main Export destinations:

The main export destinations include: Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, (the Asian region) with produce also being sent to New Zealand, USA, Middle East, Europe and small amounts to various other countries.   

• Australian Horticultural Exporters Association   - AHEA.
• AQIS

More Links:

• Customs
• EMDG - Export Grant 
• DFAT - Trade Watch