Off the wire
• OSCE representative notes lack of progress in prisoner exchange in Donbass  • Bolivia to pay back loan to China for Tupac Katari satellite  • Kaka cut from Brazil's Copa America squad  • Calls for Aussies to stop using the term "guys" to refer to women faces backlsh  • Shangri-La opens its first hotel in Sri Lanka  • 1st LD: Xinjiang enjoys unprecedented religious freedom: white paper  • Myanmar gov't vows to cooperate to improving media sector  • Roundup: S.Korea's Q1 GDP revised up to 0.5 percent amid rising rate cut expectations  • New Zealand defence minister looking for talks with China at Shangri-La Dialogue  • Russia, EU may hold parliamentary conference on security  
You are here: 　 Home

Japan acquires taste for Australian broccoli

Xinhua, June 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Japan has become the Australian state of Queensland's third-largest overseas market for broccoli after just one season of exports, the Queensland state government announced on Thursday.

The exports injected 1 million Australian dollars (723,436 thousand U.S. dollars) into the Darling Downs regional economy in south of Queensland state.

Queensland state deputy premier Jackie Trad said the initial export results were great news for regional Queensland.

"On average, Japan imports 36,000 tonnes of fresh broccoli each year," Trad said.

"Australia's national production is at only 50,000 tonnes, so there is a very large export market for broccoli and other vegetables in Japan."

She noted Queensland broccoli exports into Japan had only begun recently, following a nine-year absence.

"With broccoli exports to Japan set to triple over the next two seasons, as well as expanding markets and rising demand in both Singapore and Taiwan, it is projected that an extra 40 part-time jobs will be created in new production areas on the Darling Downs and more than 6 million Australian dollars (4.31 million U.S. dollars) injected into the regions," Trad explained.

"Despite ongoing drought conditions in many areas, Queensland agricultural exports as a whole were valued at 9.4 billion Australian dollars (6.80 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015, a 17 percent growth on the previous year."

She noted exports such as broccoli open up new outlets for growth in the agricultural sector. Endit