{"id":432725,"date":"2026-01-23T18:17:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/432725\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T18:17:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:17:31","slug":"japans-demand-for-australian-table-grapes-drives-export-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/432725\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s demand for Australian table grapes drives export growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite a couple of heatwave events, people who enjoy Australian table grapes across the globe will have access to a good variety and quality of fruit this year.<\/p>\n

Picking has begun for the local industry, with the majority of produce to be sent overseas, predominantly to Asia.<\/p>\n

Australian Table Grape Association chief executive Jeff Scott said he was optimistic about the season after the first year of full varietal access to Japan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s still early days, but we’ve done our trade briefings in about five or six countries now in Asia, and the indications are that the demand is going to be very strong again,” he said.<\/p>\n

Australia previously only exported three varieties of table grapes to Japan \u2013 crimson seedless, red globe and Thompson seedless.<\/p>\n

\"Ruby<\/p>\n

New red grape varieties, like Ruby Rush, have meant an earlier start to harvest.\u00a0 (Supplied: Talia Farms)<\/p>\n

But after a successful campaign to remove the unique trade barrier, growers can supply the market with more than 130 table grape varieties.<\/p>\n

“Japan last year increased our exports by 300 per cent,” Mr Scott said.<\/p>\n

He said exports went from about 3,500 tonnes to nearly 10,000 tonnes.<\/p>\n

“It’s something that we’ve been working on for quite a while, and we’re very pleased that we’ve been able to achieve,” he said.<\/p>\n

Australia has a free trade agreement with Japan and first exported table grapes there in 2014<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Scott said he was pleased that the industry group was one of nine horticultural commodity groups included in the federal government’s Trade Diversification Network.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It might mean additional promotional activities, it might mean supporting inbound and outbound trade missions,” he said.<\/p>\n

Pick to plate<\/p>\n

Ensuring high-quality fruit for export requires a dedicated workforce and innovative practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Talia Farms in South Australia’s Riverland, one of the country’s largest table grape farms, fruit can go from vine to shelf in as little as 48 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers at Talia Farms pack table grapes by day. (Supplied: Talia Farms)<\/p>\n

From budburst to harvest, the workforce at the 230-hectare property and pack shed grows from 13 permanent employees to a team of almost 80.<\/p>\n

Farm manager Bill Avery said it required an around-the-clock operation, with some workers starting their day wearing headlamps to pick in the dark.<\/p>\n

“We start picking at 3 o’clock in the morning or 2.30, depending on the dew point,” he said.<\/p>\n

“By 9am the pickers are finished and the pack shed is full.<\/p>\n

“We go right through to 6pm, so our fruit is then stored ready for dispatch that night.”<\/p>\n

Mr Avery said the practices helped ensure the longevity and quality of the fruit.<\/p>\n

“We are getting an extra three or four days’ shelf life on the fruit because it’s being picked when it is cool as opposed to being picked when it’s hot,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Avery said it usually took a few weeks to ship table grapes, but the premium paid for fruit ahead of Chinese New Year justified air freight.<\/p>\n

“We’re looking at 48 hours from dispatch to being in a fruit shop in South-East Asia,” he said.<\/p>\n

The business, owned by US-based company RPG Capital Management, is on the market, but Mr Avery said the existing management would remain when a new investor took over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite a strong fruit-growing season, he said Australian consumers of grapes were unlikely to see it flow through to local prices.<\/p>\n

“It is controlled by three to five major players,” Mr Avery said.<\/p>\n

“So unless you are in with those groups, it’s very hard to break in with the supermarket chains because they won’t entertain an individual grower base.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite a couple of heatwave events, people who enjoy Australian table grapes across the globe will have access…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1724,64,63,226363,99,11054,14942,226361,1636,6878,226360,226362],"class_list":["post-432725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bill-avery","tag-business","tag-exports","tag-fruit","tag-lyrup","tag-picking","tag-riverland","tag-table-grapes","tag-talia-farms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}