Australian Natural Resources Atlas

Natural Resource Topics

Agriculture - National Horticulture Industry Profiles - Stone Fruit

Stone fruit

Peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, prunes and cherries are the major stone fruit grown in Australia. Together they had a gross value in 1996/97 of $216 m, about 5% of the total value of Australian horticulture in that year.

Major producing areas

The major production areas for stone fruit in Australia are in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, the south-west portion of Western Australia and the granite belt in Queensland. Young, in central-western New South Wales, produces nearly 50% of Australia’s cherries. In addition to their production for the fresh market, peaches, apricots and plums are also canned at canneries in the Goulburn Valley in Victoria and at Berri in South Australia.

Although the widespread introduction of spray and trickle irrigation has improved water use efficiency in stone fruit orchards, increasing groundwater salinity remains a threat to long-term production, particularly along the Murray and Goulburn valleys.

Cherry

Crops produced

Crop

1996/97

Production

(t)

Value

($m)
Apricots 25 920 42.4
Cherries 6 680 34.0
Nectarines 21 890 41.2
Peacharines 50 dns
Peaches 72 100 60.1
Plums & prunes 25 190 38.6
Total 151 820 216.3
Percentage of total area Agro-ecological region

Major production regions

Region Agro-ecological region

Production

(t)

Value

($m)

 % of total crop area
Goulburn Valley, Vic Temperate slopes & plains 50 190 33.2 16
Central West, NSW Temperate highlands/temperate slopes & plains 8 220 19.4 12
Granite Belt, Qld Subtropical slopes & plains 6 080 10.2 8
Riverland, SA Temperate slopes & plains 17 640 30.1 6
South West Slopes, NSW Temperate highlands 5 240 9.2 6
Sunraysia, Vic Arid interior/temperate slopes & plains 6 870 10.1 5
South West, WA Wet temperate coasts 2 420 5.0 3
Mundubbera, Qld Wet subtropical coast 20 <0.1 2
Production, production trends and exports

Production, production trends and exports

Exports of fresh cherries and canning fruit have been fairly static, although the latter account for about half of all canning fruit produced in Australia and were worth $86 m in 1998/99. Canning fruit export figures in the graph include a significant amount of canned pears.

Canada, Japan and the UK are the main markets for canning fruit, while Hong Kong and Taiwan are the main cherry export markets. Exports of fresh stone fruit other than cherries have increased to more than 15% of total production and are worth an estimated $34 m in 1998/99. About 85% of the total volume and value of fresh stone fruit exports go to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

Industry contacts

Australian Fresh Stone Fruit Growers Association: 6 Frederick Street, Cavan, South Australia 5094; telephone: (08) 8262 2077

Cherry Growers of Australia: South Eastern Mail Centre, Victoria 3180; telephone: (03) 9210 9370

Canning Fruit Industry Council of Australia: PO Box 394, Shepparton, Victoria 3630; telephone: (03) 5821 5844

Production and value data sources

Horticultural Research and Development Corporation 2000, Horticultural Productivity and Sustainability Project

Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996, AgStats 1996-97

National Land and Water Resources Audit 2000, non-agricultural land mask from 1:1 000 000 Landuse in Australia

Agriculture Fisheries Forestry - Australia 1996, Agro-ecological Regions of Australia

Horticultural Research and Development Corporation, Australian Horticultural Corporation, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics 2000, Australian Horticulture in the Global Environment

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