Marketing problems face asparagus industry

Press, 31 December 1982, Page 12

Marketing problems face asparagus industry

Asparagus growers have just finished a difficult season with export markets suffering from price cutting and the implementation of tough quarantine regulations. According to exporters, the asparagus trade is facing serious marketing problems and at least one exporter has advised growers not to continue planting vast areas of asparagus in the meantime. Close examination of export asparagus at entry ports had revealed the presence of several different species of insects on some shipments, resulting in a high rejection rate.

Interest in asparagus has intensified in the last three years resulting in about 2500 ha now planted in asparagus throughout New Zealand compared with about 700 ha in 1979.

Because of new techniques and better cultivars, there will probably be a greater relative increase in the volume harvested, according to a horticultural adviser with the M.A.F. at Pukekohe, Mr R. J. Wood. ■

This year an estimated 1500 tonnes of asparagus hasbeen harvested and by 1985 there should be more than 5000 tonnes available.

However, asparagus growers are uniting in attempts to get the industry on a solid footing and in a position to cope with the expected increase in production.

The fprmation of a national asparagus growers’ association progressed a step further at the first National Asparagus Seminar held in Hamilton recently, where , a seven-man steering committee was elected to oversee the establishment of ; a national organisation.

Canterbury asparagus growers . have banded together to form an association under the chairmanship of Mr Humphrey Hollis. The growers support the formation of a national council to promote asparagus. About 250 ha of asparagus is planted in Canterbury but the association •is ' keen to find out the exact area and varieties so future' production can be estimated. Because of fewer overseas flights through Christchurch compared with the North Island, many growers feel the future of . asparagus production in the South Island lies with the domestic market:

Asparagus was not likely to become another bonanza export crop like kiwifruit, according to Mr John Wilson, air-freight marketing manager of Turners and Growers Exports, Ltd. The high hopes held for asparagus as an export crop had been dealt a severe blow this season by a combination

of adverse marketing factors — high air-freight costs, competition from other supplying countries and insect contamination. “Until such time as we can overcome or ameliorate these problems, growers would be wise not to plant vast areas of asparagus because the market is unlikely to be able to guarantee them an economic return for their product,” said Mr Wilson. Australia and Mexico had provided strong competition in New Zealand's export markets this season. Until this season, the Japanese market had virtually belonged to New Zealand but this no longer applied. Australia had flooded the Japanese market with big quantities of inferior quality asparagus and Mexican asparagus had been available in Japan for the first time.

Australian air-freight charges to Japan were about $1 a kilogram lower than New Zealand’s, allowing price undercutting from $1.50 to $2 a kilogram and up to $3 a kilogram. “We have been selling at $7.25 a kg in Japan, but have heard of Australian sales at the equivalent of SNZ4,-to $NZ5.50.”

This price cutting had seriously upset Turners’ marketing strategy and they had only been able to make sales in Japan because of the superior quality bf the New Zealand asparagus. The same sort of story had occurred in the United States. Mexico had sent large quantities of good-quality asparagus to the United States at the time when New Zealand was expecting to enjoy a relatively unchallenged market access.

“Another setback was the appearance of Chilean asparagus on the United States market for the first time. Mexico and Chile both have the advantage of much lower freight costs because they are closer to the United States than we are.” The net result was that although New Zealand produced excellent asparagus it was very expensive by the time it reached the market. “Because of this it is difficult to sell in quantity and still maintain a high price, especially against cheaper, but nevertheless a good quality product from other countries.”

The answer was not to offer the New Zealand grower a lower price because his overheads were already very high and he needed the present level of prices to make his operation viable.

"The plain fact is that our high airfreight and packaging costs are making us uncompetitive with other as-

paragus-exporting countries. “This coupled with the prospect of oiir having 2000 tonnes of fresh asparagus to be exported in 1985 makes it imperative that we act now to seek remedies. for these high export charges?’ Mr Wilson said the industry had to look very closely at diverting more of the fresh asparagus crop into new and improved processed forms such as quick-forzen, dehydrated, pastes and soups.

"Second, we need to- develop later maturing cultivars so that our export production season does not clash with other countries. Cultivars were required which produced between mid-November and Christmas, a period when the world was short of asparagus.”

Insect contamination was a major problem which played havoc this season with quality standards and resulted in fumigation being necessary in Japan and the United States, with resulting ill-effects in keeping quality. Because the industry had been unable to provide growers with an effective and economical, spray programme against insect pests, post-harvest treatments involving washing in insecticide dips and fumigation had been necessary.

Turners and Growers, in conjunction with the D.5.1.R., had developed a post-harvest insecticide dip which was officially approved recently for use on asparagus. Unfortunately approval for the treatment came too late to avoid early season prob-

lems of insect contamination and fumigation had been necessary, either in New Zealand or at overseas points of entry where quarantine officials had been very sensitive and attentive to New Zealand asparagus because of the presence of insects.

The answer to successful asparagus exports lay in the use of controlled temperature containers to carry the crop from the packhouse to the market place. “Until we get this facility we are going to continue to be vulnerable. One of the glimmers of daylight could be the successful development of a controlled sea freight container which was at present being worked on. This would enable asparagus to be shipped out of season to a wider range of northern hemisphere markets for which air transport was at present uneconomic, said Mr Wilson. Support for a national organisation was given at the Hamilton seminar by Mr Westbrook Haines, executive director of the Horticultural Export Development Council. “There are two' options open to the asparagus industry — compulsory acquisition and single desk marketing, or a system of licensing exporters,” said Mr Haines. - The latter, licensing exporters, was preferable. “This system provides for competition between export companies within New Zealand in the acquisition of the product, and at the same time allows for a flexible and co-ordinated marketing system.”