Citrus growers conquer export markets

An extra 350,000 boxes of Australian navel oranges are making their way to American supermarkets this season, despite challenging circumstances for growers.

 

 

The Chairman of Riversun Exports, Peter Walker said the drought in citrus regions and competition from countries such as Peru, Chile and South Africa has taken its toll on the industry this year.

 

 

But Mr Walker said Australian citrus has a good reputation in the US and is being sold to high end supermarkets to achieve a better profit.

 

 

"Because our fruit is very expensive, because of the cost of growing in Australia, we had to have higher returns for the growers to obviously achieve profits," he said.

 

"Our demographic we hit are the high end supermarkets to try and realise those returns."