A key opportunity for the Australian export industry is working with retailers to better display and promote Australian fruit, according to Western Australian exporter Jennie Franceschi.

Ms Franceschi and Antony Allen from The Avolution attended this year’s Asia Fruit Logistica with support from the avocado export project.

“After I toured retail outlets around Hong Kong before the start of the Logistica, my take home from all retail outlets (from high, medium and low end), is there is more work to be done when it comes to presenting and merchandising avocados,” Ms Franceschi said.

“If Australia was to make an impact in this market, then the opportunity would be to find a good retailer or one with not too many stores, and work with them to present Australian Avocados properly.

“With a ripe and ready program of well-presented avocados, it might be possible to eventually leverage a better price for our product.

“Hong Kong is currently a trader market and it’s more about price than quality.”

Ms Franceschi said another opportunity for Australian exporters would be to offer gift packaged fruit for festivals.

At the Asiafruit Congress, Ms Franceschi said the discussion of e-commerce could be of interest to the Australian industry.

“I think there would be opportunities within the Asian export markets to align with some e-commerce platforms in markets where we have access,” she said.

At Asia Fruit Logistica, attendance was down in comparison to previous years because of the unrest in Hong Kong, but interest remained in Australian avocados.

Acknowledgement

Avocados Australia’s work in the export field is supported by the Avocado Export Readiness and Market Access Project (AV17004), funded by Hort Innovation, using the avocado research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government.

This article was prepared for the Spring 2019 Talking Avocados magazine.