A NEW trade agreement allowing Australian table grapes to be exported to China could earn more than $60 million a year for the Sunraysia district, the country's biggest table grape producer.
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Chinese officials will soon visit and examine the local industry. If they're satisfied, the first shipments are likely to be sent early next year.
Table grapes are a favourite fruit in China, and Australian growers have been trying for market access for years. With China's booming cities and rising wealth, the local industry has hailed the agreement.
Under the deal, signed on October 11, grapes will be exported under strict quarantine conditions to prevent the entry of fruit fly to China. The grapes must be kept in cool storage (at 1 degree for 16 days, or at 2.1 degrees for 21 days).
At the moment Australian growers can export to Hong Kong but not to mainland China. The trade breakthrough will open access to cities on China's east coast.
Australian exporters benefit considerably from the timing of the harvest, which runs from January to April or May. Chinese New Year is early in the year and grapes are a popular gift.
The chief executive of the Australian Table Grape Association, Jeff Scott, said the agreement was great news for the Sunraysia, which he said produced about 99 per cent of exports.
''Australia hasn't achieved any major market access that has been of [substantial size] probably in the last 10 years. I'm talking about Australian horticulture. So to gain market access into China, it is a significant breakthrough,'' he said.
''We've got a brand new market which could be as big as Hong Kong; $60-70 million a year goes to Hong Kong. Over the next two to three years we hope to build up trade direct to China to be just as big.'' Potentially, the China market could be even bigger, he said.
Grower John Argiro welcomed the agreement. ''It's fantastic. It's the best news we've had in the last, probably 10-15 years,'' he said.
Australia was considered a ''clean, green, fresh'' producer, he said. ''Australian product now is by far the best eating grape in the world - and the Chinese just love the taste of our grapes. Give it to them sweet and the right colour and they'll keep buying. Quality is the number one issue.''
Mr Argiro, just back from a two-week trip to China, said it was ''by far'' the biggest table grape market in the world. ''It's the first time I've actually travelled out of Shanghai down along the coast there and it's unbelievable to see the way these places are growing,'' he said.
The timing of the new trade agreement is ironic. It was signed the next business day after the Murray-Darling Basin Authority recommended cuts to Victorian water entitlements from the Murray River of 27 to 36 per cent.
Mr Scott said: ''It is a major threat to horticulture and in its current format it just cannot go ahead.''
The basin authority will get a guide to the anger in Mildura at two community meetings in the district on Wednesday.
