FURTHER investments into Australian horticulture must be made if it is to compete in the changing powerbase of the global fresh produce industry.
A Rabobank reported entitled "New World Order? Up-and-Coming Players in the Fresh Produce Trade" suggests Australia needs to continue to adapt to keep pace with other emerging export nations such as Peru and Thailand.
Part of that adaptation, according the report, will need to include infrastructure expansion plans.
The report reinforces the well-documented trend of recent years showing Asia and the Middle East continuing to become growth markets, particularly for Australia.
Europe remains the world’s leading import market for fresh fruit and vegetables.
It is still a market of significant appeal but in recent years much of the growth in demand has been generated out of the United States and Chinese markets, with Australian horticultural exporters among those experiencing rapid growth into China.
However, it forewarns of countries like Mexico and Peru as also gaining momentum in terms of fresh produce output onto the world stage.
The report says while China and the US remain the two big "growth engines" for global fruit and vegetable import demand, over recent years a number of other countries have been emerging as attractive growth markets.
These include Thailand (where fresh fruit and nut imports grew by 120 per cent or $US387 million from 2009 to 2014); Malaysia (+108pc or $US274 million); South Korea (+173pc or $US1.038 billion); and the United Arab Emirates (+102pc or $US1.082 billion).
In these countries, more temperate climate fruits such as citrus, grapes, pome fruit, stonefruit, kiwifruit and berries are also being imported in far greater volumes and values.
The report says consumers worldwide are increasingly demanding a higher-value and more interesting range of fruits and vegetables.
The result is that while the volume of fresh fruit and vegetable consumption around the world may be barely increasing, the value of global fruit and vegetable trade is rising.
Further infrastructure investment into areas such as irrigation water will be needed in Australia if it is to capitalise on the growth markets, according to the report.
Report co-author, Rabobank senior analyst Marc Soccio, said both the US and Chinese markets are very diverse in terms of their stage of development and the demands they place on produce exporters from around the world.
"But they have one thing in common – the rising diversity and quality expectations they have when it comes to their fresh fruit and vegetable imports,” Mr Soccio said.
Nations including Morocco, Thailand and Vietnam are also seen as being strategically well-placed to capitalise as they look to better organise and orientate themselves to meet the product and quality requirements of today’s high-value import markets.
The rise of new fruit and vegetable players has not been unnoticed by the "big boys", according to Mr Soccio.
"Both Mexico and Peru have experienced remarkable growth in recent years, especially in many of the high-value categories where other more established horticultural-exporting nations have previously staked their claim,” Mr Soccio said.
“While countries like Chile continue to display good growth in many selected crops, the impact countries such as Mexico and Peru are having on global trade in many major horticultural crops is quite remarkable."
Mexico is already established as the world’s third-largest volume exporter of fresh fruits and vegetables, with a predominant focus on North American markets.
The value of Peru’s fresh fruit and vegetable exports equated to roughly one-fifth of the size of Mexico’s exports in 2015.
These exports have grown at double the rate of those of Mexico over the past five years to become Peru’s second-largest export earner, after minerals and energy.
Australia may need to take some lessons from those countries climbing the export ladder.
Mr Soccio said Tasmania was an example of a state which is investing in infrastructure to unlock the potential of key resources.
“Typically market demand is not the constraint for growth and where this investment is taking place, there is growing confidence on behalf of industry to expand both new and existing operations,” he said.
At the same time, sustained investment in R&D, both at individual business and industry level, continues to be an essential driver of the innovations that set countries apart, both now and into the future, Mr Soccio said.
“It is important for new on-farm/post-harvest technologies to be developed in order to raise the bar beyond the reach of up-and-coming supplier countries," he said.
"Together with a strong understanding of the needs of consumers and customers in key export markets, this can deliver valuable and sustainable points of difference from which to compete and grow."
