ISSUE 56 — FEB 2021
Chinese Export Uncertainty After a year of a global pandemic, regular workplace practices and operations continue to change. Fresh State spoke with the Director at Ten Farms, Mr David Holman, about how the controversy surrounding the pandemic and China has affected the fruit and vegetable industry in Australia, especially with Chinese exports. Tenfarms ship citrus, stone fruit and grapes to China each season and this year they have shipped more by airfreight than usual due to the timing of Chinese New Year.
A statement from the Department of Agriculture, in the Manual of Importing Country Requirements, says; The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (Department) will continue to provide certification for goods that meet the requirements of the Export Control Act. Exporters/ export-registered establishments are advised that some recent shipments have been delayed on entry into China, leading to commercial losses. While the Department will continue to facilitate market access and seek to ensure importing country requirements are up to date and accurate, the Department encourages exporters to fully consider their own risk and potential losses. Exporters should ensure that they have independently confirmed relevant importing country requirements. Exporters are urged to seek advice from importers on potential for disruption to the clearance of their shipment. According to this statement, this means Australian shippers cargo meets every requirement. However, Mr Holman says that it is clear that wholesalers and businesses may face commercial losses due to issues outside of meeting the terms of trade.
“The impact on our business is that we are not as confident as usual in loading into China. The importers are not as confident in their ability to meet a stable market and are ordering with more of the risk to be borne by shippers in the event of an issue causing rejection, delay, or inability to receive produce. Some of the fruit we may have sent to China is now being sold domestically or to other markets. Currently, many of our other markets are in lockdown and as we draw closer to the Chinese Lunar new year celebrations, Malaysia, Indonesia, and many other areas are simply unable to receive and sell produce as rapidly as before, and the result is lower prices and unsold stock,” says Mr Holman.
“There have not been any formal changes made to the obligations in China export protocols, but what has changed is the likelihood of our produce arriving in a timely manner, and when it does arrive, we are no longer confident that our produce will be promptly delivered to a welcoming market,” said Mr Holman.
“There will be no government support in these risks, but fruit needs to be sold, so we must
6
work to mitigate risk as best as we can.
Holman hoped that the current lockdowns and the restrictions pre-Chinese New Year achieve the results that the respective governments hope for and that after the festive period, they will be able to return to trade in a more confident manner.
“Our best of season stone fruit and table grapes are harvested in February, and it would be great to see the month finish in a more positive manner with growers finally getting the viable returns they deserve for delivering the amazing summer range on offer today.”
