The Composition of Trade Australia 2011 statistics, compiled by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), show that imports of processed fruit and vegetable products between 2009/10 to 2011/12 rose by as much as $119m, which DFAT has partly attributed to the high Australian dollar.
“These figures demonstrate an alarming trend that is getting worse, year on year,” said Ausveg CEO Richard Mulcahy. “The volume of processed vegetable imports in this country has reached worrying heights, and measures must be taken immediately to ensure that Australian vegetable producers are provided with a proper level playing field.
“The Australian vegetable industry is now more than ever facing fierce competition from overseas markets, and the pressure is mounting on growers to reduce their costs and operate on even slimmer profit margins.
“If Australia continues to import vegetable products in the way that these results indicate, then the viability of Australian growers will be seriously jeopardised.
“While growers and processors here are committed to producing the high-quality products that Australian households have come to expect, if the level of imported products that we are currently seeing increases much further then it will be a grim future for these industries indeed.”
Ausveg is the National Peak Industry Body representing around 9,000 of Australia’s vegetable and potato growers.
Australia’s food imports were shown to have largely been sourced from New Zealand, with producers in the US, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia also contributing to the rise in Australia’s imported food products.
Source: Ausveg
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