SUNRAYSIA’S citrus industry might not yet have turned the corner but, according to Citrus Australia chief executive Nathan Hancock, it definitely has its blinker on.
Mr Hancock says despite a less-than-satisfactory start there are now definite signs of improvement for the industry across the 2023 season.
He says comparing the season to date with that of 2022, fruit quality has improved in 2023.
“The tail-end of the 2023 harvest was particularly strong from a quality perspective,” Mr Hancock says.
“While the earlier fruit this season struggled a little with internal maturity – due to our cold and wet spring and mild summer – the mid- and late-season varieties are eating well.
“Quality has certainly improved compared to the 2022 season.”
However, Mr Hancock says there is also a heavy ‘on’ crop of small fruit this season because, across most growing regions, the 2022 spring did not provide enough hot, dry weather to promote fruit set and consequently size.
“Early-season navels were particularly small given their naturally shorter growing season, combined with cool wet conditions,” he says.
“Fruit sizing in the mid-season did improve overall despite a heavy crop while the late-season crop load has been lighter.
“The Valencia crop is also light this year, with small fruit expected unless we see warm weather right through spring and summer, which may add size.”
While growers in south-eastern Australia have faced some issues related to albedo breakdown for the second consecutive season, the impact is less severe than 12 months ago.
“Albedo breakdown has been present in crops this year but we’ve seen vast improvements in the way this has been managed compared to the 2022 season, which was particularly severe,” Mr Hancock says.
“Overall, fruit cosmetics this season have been very good.”
Mandarin production, which has continued to expand across the country, has seen some mixed results, with markets taking time to adjust to an increase in early fruit supply.
Mr Hancock says for the first time we have seen some significant yield increases from areas such as Far North Queensland, as well as Emerald, which has meant that more Australian mandarins are available earlier in the season.
He says mandarin exports started earlier this season due to the increased volumes of early fruit, giving growers options other than the domestic market early in the year.
“The mandarin category continues to power ahead.
“We expect to see volumes continue to climb in coming seasons, making export market expansion an important part of the industry’s strategy going forward.”
Mr Hancock says as disruptions to global supply chains have improved, so too have trade conditions.
China is the number one market for our citrus exports in 2023 in terms of volume shipped and trade value.
Looking to the future, he says China will remain a cornerstone export market for the industry.
“We expect to see further growth there in the next few years as diplomatic relations improve and as China works through its post-pandemic economic recovery,” Mr Hancock says.
At the same time Japan has continued to show strong demand for Australian citrus, particularly for oranges, while South Korea and Vietnam are emerging as important growth markets.
“There is an emerging market for lemons in South Korea, with short supply from Chile and the tariff on Australian lemons declining each year,” he says.
“This year we have broken through the 10,000-tonne barrier for citrus exported to South Korea for the first time ever.
“These shipments have been hard gains up against a range of technical barriers but we are slowly breaking through those barriers.”
However, Mr Hancock says Australian exporters have been slow to capitalise on a new co-operative agreement with India which came into force this year.
Under the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, the tariff on Australian oranges and mandarins has been halved to 15 per cent.
“Yet to date, we haven’t seen any real improvement in export volumes to India,” he says.
“Citrus Australia has reminded exporters to inform Indian importers of the tariff reduction quota and provide them with the relevant paperwork.”
But, overall, Mr Hancock says the industry is moving in a positive direction.
“At this stage it’s fair to say it’s been a much better season than last year,” he says.
“With good-quality fruit for the tail-end of the season we predict a reasonable improvement on last season’s outcome.”
