***"I don't think the Australian Government has given the Indonesians any reason to be cooperative with us when we did ban the export of cattle to Indonesia, when we were telling them behind the scenes that we were going to continue to work with them," he said.
Indonesian import ban distresses Aussie growers By Eleanor Bell Posted February 17, 2012 20:54:49 Fresh produce farmers are bracing for another blow as Indonesia clamps down on Australian food exports. Indonesia became a free trade partner with Australia earlier this year, but next month will restrict fresh produce from entering most of its main ports. It claims concerns over quarantine and illegal imports are driving the introduction of stricter regulations. Australian fruit and vegetable exporters say it is already taking a toll on profits. Liberal Senator for Tasmania Richard Colbeck says it is another problem they do not need. "[There is] one carrot producer who'll lose up to 75 per cent of his Indonesian market," he said. "The onion producers that I've been talking to are saying that the ports that are available aren't any good for their product, and not only are they distressed about it but their customers are very distressed as well." The new regulations will prevent shipping of Australian fruit and vegetables to all but four Indonesian ports. "I'm told that some of the infrastructure there isn't suitable to receive their produce. They're very concerned about their cold chain survival," Senator Colbeck said. "There's discussion about having to unpack containers and put their produce onto local transport 1,700 kilometres into where the markets are. "And they're very concerned about the the extra time but also the potential damage to produce because they lose their cold chain supply." The new regulations have not yet come into place. Because of that uncertainty, growers in Australia are unsure whether they should take the risk of placing their product on ships bound for Indonesia. "Given that it takes over three weeks to get the product from Australia into Indonesia, they're in the situation of having to decide whether to put it on the boat or not and they don't know whether or not they will have markets if they wait until decisions are announced early in March," Senator Colbeck said. Domestic challenges Audio: Fruit and vegie producers face uncertainty over Indonesian export market. (PM) Australia's fresh fruit and vegetable exports to Indonesia are valued at $40 million a year - a small bite in an industry worth $9 billion annually. But Marc Soccio, a senior analyst at agribusiness bank Rabobank, says the hit comes on top of other challenges. "For a long time it's been the drought across the Murray-Darling Basin. Fortunately obviously that drought's broken in quite a spectacular way," he said. "But it's come with its own challenges obviously; flooding in certain parts of the country up in Queensland. "Last year it had quite a significant impact on the Australian vegetable growing industry which we've seen certainly in fruit and veg prices." Importers like Indonesia want specific products - citrus, apples and vegetables - so the majority of Australia's fresh produce is grown for the domestic market. But there are challenges at home too. "I think it's only been a matter of time until the retailers turn their minds to fresh produce," Mr Soccio said. "Fresh produce is a very key part of their offer and they've been doing quite a bit of work in this space for some time, trying to improve their offering. "There's quite a strong push. Obviously Woolworths has reinvigorated their fresh food people campaign and Coles has hit back with their own response and on the back of produce deflation anyway, the market is generally over-supplied and prices have been on their way down for some time." The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it is lobbying Indonesian officials in a bid to minimise the impact of the proposed regulations. Senator Colbeck says the Government's handling of the Indonesia export cattle ban has strained our trade relationship. "I don't think the Australian Government has given the Indonesians any reason to be cooperative with us when we did ban the export of cattle to Indonesia, when we were telling them behind the scenes that we were going to continue to work with them," he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-17/f ... ts/3837020 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
