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Industry Profile

Current Production

Early season (low chill) stone fruit is primarily sourced from the coastal districts of the NSW North Coast, the QLD Sunshine Coast, and inland districts of Mundubbera, Kumbia, and the Lockyer Valley, with mid season fruit available from the Granite Belt, and the NSW Central Coast. To a lesser extent fruit is also supplied from the Sydney Hills district and from the Gingin and Carnarvon districts to the north of Perth.

The low chill stonefruit season extends from late August to November, (12 weeks), peaking in October, involving a succession of varieties each with a window of 2 to 5 weeks.

The main crops are nectarines, peaches and to a lesser extent plums. Currently there are no truly low-chill apricots or cherries.

Low-chill production is estimated at approximately 10% of national sales by volume (10,000 tonne), and 15% on value ($40 million). This equates to an annual production of approximately 3 million x 3.5 kg trays, or 2 million x 5kg trays.

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Consumers

Current varieties are not suitable for export, so the current production is domestic market focused.

Low chill stone fruit quality is of importance to the wider national stone fruit industry as it sets the standard for the start of the stone fruit season. Consumers purchasing high quality peaches, nectarines and plums in September, October and November will continue purchasing during summer. However, consumers may not purchase high-chill fruit if they have adverse experiences with low-chill varieties. For consumers it is all just stone fruit regardless of the timing of production in low-chill or high-chill regions.

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Future Direction - Achieving "Critical Mass"

To achieve the required "critical mass" the low-chill stonefruit industry will need to address current limiting factors including:

• Planting of improved varieties that better meet customers expectations, are more productive, and have lower management costs;
• Secure access to the best new varieties, which may involve participation in controlled marketing programs to maximise the viability of these new varieties;
• Expansion into identified suitable production regions, taking account of:
  
  
  • location and climate (coastal districts tend to be more prone to disease), and the matching of recorded "chill units" with variety is essential
    
  • soil type and quality
    
  • demonstrated low chill production capacity
    
  • water access and quality
  
  
• Making a positive effort to move on from the current "cottage industry" status, to more commercial production
• Improved supply chain logistics and coordination, including establishing centralized packing facilities, and implementation of effective QA systems.
• Export market development using improved varieties.
• Development of specialist product lines and development of niche market opportunities.

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Industry Profile Document

A document summarising the low chill industry in Australia can be downloaded by selecting the link below.

Low Chill Industry Profile

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Images

Click on image for full size version.

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