The national peak avocado body has welcomed a “game changer” deal giving Australian Hass growers access to the Indian market.
The Australian and Indian governments issued a joint statement welcoming the finalization of market access for Hass avocados. It’s a significant boost to an industry experiencing a massive supply glut and poor returns, making it unviable for many growers.
Avocados Australia chief executive John Tyas said the deal, alongside December’s free-trade agreement that would bring tariffs from 30 percent to zero by 2029, was monumental.
“Having access to India along with the tariff reductions is a game changer,” Mr Tyas said.
“We think India is going to be a great market for us to build and a great market for us to really dominate.”
He described the deal as “massively significant”, chief executive of Avolution — Australia’s largest exporter of Australian avocados — Anthony Allen says a new market is needed.
“It’s perfect timing in terms of the ability for the industry to move forward out of what is increased production,” he said.
“The industry has been working on a number of export markets and this is probably one of the key ones for it actually to eventuate.”
Avocados Australia hopes the deal will end over-supply and “glut” issues in the market, with India poised to become the world’s most populous country this year.
“There’s a lot of people in India — nearly 1.5 billion people,” Mr Tyas said.
“If we can get 1 per cent of people to buy Australian avocados, that’s a market of 15 million people.”
Unlike current export markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, the enormous population in India means the Australian avocado industry only needs an incredibly small amount of Indians to purchase a single avocado to make a difference.
Mr Allen said it could save Australian avocado growers from a “very dire-looking outlook”.