Australian avocados could be next to benefit from improving China ties, growing demand for superfruit

Among familiar Australian products such as wine, lobsters, beef and dairy products, warming ties between Australia and China may bring another new choice to Chinese customers: avocados.

But the slow progress of negotiations on agreed phytosanitary protocols – a process that verifies agricultural products have been inspected and are pest and disease free – is delaying the availability of the superfruit to Chinese importers who “are really keen for the product”, said John Tyas, CEO of Avocados Australia.

“We have to hope that these negotiations that are currently happening can move quickly,” he added.

“And once we’re on the negotiation table, we can probably try and see if we can do more to push things along.”

China has strict sanitary and phytosanitary standards for fresh produce, often leading to long delays in negotiations over agricultural export deals.

According to Avocados Australia, the advocacy group for the Australian avocado industry, Canberra is also trying to negotiate access for apples and blueberries into the Chinese market, while Beijing is trying to get its jujube, or red dates, and kiwi fruits into the Australian market.

“Avocados can be the next product to be negotiated for access to China,” Tyas added.

“We need to demonstrate to our government that avocados are worth investing in [because] it’s a very large and growing industry in Australia [that] employs a lot of people.”

And on Thursday, it was reported that China had lifted bans on imports from five major Australian beef processing facilities.

The Queensland-based Avocados Australia advocacy group signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Association in November, which ensured comprehensive information sharing to