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market there for Murcotts, which are grown predominantly in Queensland,” says Daniels. “We’re very keen to see that finalized.”
“The United States has actually published the technical conditions for fruit flies in their treatment manual; it really is just an admin- istrative process now for APHIS to put their proposed rule on the public register and go through their processes to seek comment from the stakeholders and so on, which can take a bit of time.”
Chris Deveney, director at exporter Favco in Brisbane, says there are more opportunities for
Australian citrus in the United States now than there were three years ago.
“The [lower] Australian dollar’s helping, but it’s not what’s driving it,” he says. “There’s recognition of the value of Australian fruit and offering their consumers that point of difference. Nobody wins in price wars over cheap fruit.”
“If ever there was a year for U.S. retailers to invest time and money and effort into Austra- lian citrus, this is probably the year to do it,” says Deveney.
Kazmirski of Northwest Grocers claims
when Australian and Chilean oranges are put side by side, the former tends to outperform the latter.
MANGOS AND LYCHEES
“Do you mean I could have gone to my grave and never tasted this? This has got to be one of the best days of my life.”
The above comment reportedly came from an 80-year-old man after tasting an Aussie mango for the first time at Gelson’s Markets in California, one retailer where the Australian Mango Industry Association (AMIA), Bris- bane, ran promotions last winter in partnership with Giumarra Companies of Los Angeles.
It’s the kind of over-the-top positivity that makes Australians and Californians alike, but it was not an isolated reaction, according to AMIA marketing director Treena Welch.
“What I saw was a great buy-in at the store level,” says Welch. “You can see that whole emotional attachment starting to be created.”
“It’s really about bringing a little bit of summer into their winter with that wonderful brightness of the mango — especially Kens- ington Pride — when things can be a bit dull and drab,” says Marie Piccone, managing director of grower-exporter Manbulloo, a group based in Brisbane, with farms in the Northern Territory and Queensland.
The yellow and very sweet Kensington Pride variety is different than the R2E2 mango, which Piccone describes as creamier and less intense with a red blush and the ability to grow to a much larger size — a trait that makes it popular with Asian populations in Canada where trade has been taking place for around eight years.
Welch explains the third type of Australian mango, Calypso, has yellow-orange skin with a “beautiful pink blush” and firmer flesh.
Giumarra Companies offers all three of these varieties from November to January and has completed its fifth year importing them thanks to a protocol signed between both coun-
52 / APRIL 2019 / PRODUCE BUSINESS
Kensington Pride ready to harvest