The Australian grape harvest started in mid-October in Central Queensland, these grapes are mainly for the domestic market. The harvest of the export grapes will start in January.
Sunraysia is the main production region with 75% of national production but 99% of exports come from Sunraysia.
"The weather has been great so far this season perfect for growing grapes so the expectation is for a great year with very good quality fruit. We will be back to the high class reputation that Australian grapes are renowned for," said Jeff Scott CEO at the Australian Table Grape Association.
"We have had cold winter nights but clear sunny days, the spring has been warm and sunny with cold nights and little rain but the few days of rain came at the right time."
Jeff said that the yield may be slightly down on last year in some varieties but this will enhance the quality of the fruit on the vines that will be exported.
"Demand in the export markets has been strong, even last year when our quality was affected by weather, but this year demand seems to be strong so far with the enquiries for supply from a number of countries."
China and Hong Kong are Australia's biggest export destinations, followed by Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines.
Australia is looking to gain access for additional varieties into Japan. "Japan are currently going through their consultation process with their stakeholders regarding additional varieties and the hope is that access will be allowed in the near future. The US are progressing through their processes that will hopefully amend the existing protocol that will allow us to ship grapes there."
For more information:
Jeff Scott
ATGA
Tel: +61 417 122 086
Email: [email protected]