Source: ABC News
Exports of Australian summer fruits to the Philippines are expected to increase after the Federal Government approved a new quarantine protocol, which allows produce to be cold-treated for pests and diseases during transit.
Currently, exporters must treat fruit such as citrus and table grapes before export, which can jeopardise quality and shelf life.
Citrus Australia’s general manager of market development, Andrew Harty, says the new protocol gives growers access to a further 100 million people.
“We think that it’s possibly, once we develop it, it’s going to be comparable in size for us to the Malaysian market and that, at the moment, is about our third or fourth biggest orange market every year,” he said.
“We reckon about somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 tonnes a year of fruit could go over there.”