UK export success
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Avos arrive in the UK
Fresh Aussie avocados have arrived in the UK straight from the trees around Childers, Queensland as part of a ground breaking exercise in fresh fruit export by innovative Sunshine Coast marketers Sunfresh Marketing Cooperative.
More than 20 tonnes of avocados from five local growers were packed at the new SuperPak facility at Childers before embarking on a 36-day sea journey to Felixstowe in the UK.
Sunfresh Chairman Tom French was ‘excited and optimistic’ when the container doors were opened.
‘This is an absolute triumph, not only for Sunfresh, but for the Australian avocado industry,’ he said.
‘We’re delighted with the condition of the fruit and we have every confidence the quality will meet the stringent demands of the EU consumers,’ he added.
‘It has taken us more than two years and a major resource investment to establish our entry into the EU and UK markets.
‘Despite it being a long journey, it is well worth the effort as it has created history for the Australian avocado industry.’
Sunfresh is well known as a pioneer in the development of avocado exports and have been successfully air-freighting fruit to Asia for more than 10 years, however they felt more could be achieved.
‘We believed it was time to take on a bigger challenge and accept the risks of European export in an effort to take surplus product off the domestic market to ensure prices remain sustainable for growers in periods of oversupply,’ French said.
‘UK and European consumers will be enjoying our clean and green fruit while Australian growers get the benefit of a stable income and the confidence to continue to invest in and expand the industry,’ he said.
‘We learned a lot from our 2008 static trial and were confident it could be recreated successfully when it came time for the ‘real’ journey,’ French said.
Once the container was opened in Felixstowe the fruit was carefully assessed by the importers, Halls International, surveyors from the shipping company, Maersk, and officers from Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries.
It was then ripened carefully under controlled conditions and distributed to major chains throughout the UK and Europe.
Halls International Director, Paul Devlin said, ‘The wholly natural process to keep the fruit clean and green and sound on arrival has been an outstanding success.’
