New route to international markets for SA citrus and table grape growers opens

Riverland citrus and table grape producers will soon have a faster, more convenient and more cost-effective option for their produce to reach international markets. 

Flinders Port Holdings (FPH), which owns and operates the Adelaide Container Terminal and seven ports across South Australia, has been working with Lineage (NASDAQ: LINE), an international cold storage organisation based in Edinburgh Parks to provide a Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) plant registered establishment for fruit export and cold treatment which can store fresh produce for international markets. 

Until now, South Australia has not had a DAFF-accredited cold storage facility to handle fruit and vegetables from the state’s produce-growing regions, which has limited the export opportunities from regions such as the Riverland.  

About 90 per cent of South Australia’s citrus and table grape crops are exported via sea freight, with the majority currently departing Australian shores from Victoria.  

Lineage has been DAFF accredited, meaning it can satisfy all export and cold storage protocols. 

Without this approved facility, Riverland producers have been forced to utilise alternate supply chain solutions including transporting their produce to Mildura and other Victorian-based DAFF-approved cold storage facilities prior to transportation, and then exporting via Melbourne Ports.  

FPH Group Business Development Manager Richard Brine said producers, who were battling increasing competition from other markets, were constantly looking for ways to streamline and reduce supply chain costs while obtaining a fair price for their produce. 

“We have exporters based in the Riverland such as Waikerie, which is two hours from Port Adelaide, who transport their produce to cold storage locations in Victoria and then move it to the Port of Melbourne via road and rail,” Mr Brine said. 

“Exporters are interested in using South Australia’s Ports, should a cold store be available. They will now be able to transport to Edinburgh in two to three hours from the Riverland, hold it in cold storage, and then ship it out from Port Adelaide, saving them transport costs and time to market.

“Transporting produce to Adelaide is more cost effective than moving it to Mildura and putting it on a train to Melbourne. When you’re competing with international exporters in global markets, every cost saving counts.” 

Mr Brine said FPH had spent the past year working on a solution for South Australia’s citrus and table grape exporters, knowing that if you could cut the time taken to reach markets for producers, as well as reducing costs, they would become more efficient and ultimately more sustainable.  

Another route to market via South Australia’s ports would provide supply chain resilience.

Lineage recently gained approvals from DAFF to be a plant registered establishment for fruit export and cold treatment for Riverland fruit to all export protocol destinations such as China, Japan, Korea, NZ, USA and other South East Asian countries. 

“Our conservative analysis, based on our research and our discussions with many growers, is that this option could save at least 20 per cent on transport costs,” Mr Brine said. 

“Farmers are saying if they could save $1 per carton, that’s important to them with further benefits in terms of cost and time savings and competing in the global market.  

“We’re hoping Riverland growers will see the initial benefits, and then we hope to later extend that to the Sunraysia region.”