A MARKET access agreement should help Australia nut exporters sell into the vast Indian market, agriculture minister David Littleproud says.
Mr Littleproud said he was thrilled Australia’s walnut growers now had access to India and its population of 1.4bn.
“Many Australians don’t realise a scientific market access agreement is often the hardest part of getting access to a new market,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Getting scientists from two countries to agree on how to stop any threat of diseases or pests being exported from one country to another can be very difficult.
“We’ve managed to win agreement with our Indian friends and this means our walnut growers can export their clean, green product to India.”
Mr Littleproud said they spoke to industry through the Hort Innovation Australia prioritisation process and industry nominated walnut market access as a priority.
“Since then our agriculture counsellor in India has worked with the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the walnut industry to get this access,” he said.
“Agricultural counsellors win trade outcomes and that is why we boosted the number of counsellors we have in key markets in the 2017-18 budget.
“Around 1.4bn people live in India – more than 50 times the number of people in Australia – so it’s a huge market we’ve accessed for our walnut growers.”
Mr Littleproud said Australia exported more than $22.5m worth of walnuts globally in 2017-18.
Trade can begin once the import conditions are officially gazetted by India. In the interim, 10 trial shipments of walnuts are to be sent to India.
- The export value for Australia’s agricultural commodities was worth $2.6bn in 2017
- Australia gained market access for blueberries from late 2015, which are now available in stores in India
- The Australian Government committed a further $51.3m over four years under the Growing Australian Agricultural Exports measure.
Source: Office of Minister David Littleproud
