Wet summer threatens to create a shortage of Australian-grown dried fruit

Consumers are facing shortages of Australian dried fruit this year due to heavy rainfall and humidity wreaking havoc on crops amid a global drop in production.

From cheese platters to baked goods, home cooks and health-conscious consumers are driving a resurgence for the dried fruit industry.

But unfavourable weather conditions have slowed the supply worldwide for the $US10.2 billion ($15.42 billion) market.

Dried Fruits Australia chair Mark King said more imports would be needed to fill supermarket shelves amid the shortage.

“These last two years have been bad and, unless the weather clears up, it doesn’t appear to be a better year,” he said.

“Usually worldwide production is about 1.2 million tonnes of dried grapes, but last year there was probably only 880,000 tonnes produced.”

Flooding last year meant Mr King was unable to harvest a crop from his vineyards at Pomona near the Darling River in New South Wales.

The unusual humidity has meant the situation is grim for this year’s sultana season.

“A lot of [the sultanas] have split, and a lot of them have started to drop and go rotten,” Mr King said.

A difficult season

Across the border in South Australia’s Riverland, Kris Werner is counting the cost of what the wet season has meant for his business.

The Dried Tree Fruits Australia chair said he had experienced more extreme weather events in his stone fruit orchards at Waikerie over the past decade.

Another year of poor production has meant shortages of his dried apricots for consumers.

“I’ve actually told a couple of our normal customers that we can’t supply this year, which is a pain because it takes years to build up a customer base,” he said.

“The industry as a whole can’t supply Australia alone, let alone export it.”

After his earliest ever start to a harvest “in November”, Mr Werner said more rain than usual meant having to process his peaches, nectarines and apricots multiple times.

“As soon as it looks like it’s going to rain, everything has to come off the drying racks and go undercover, while some of it’s got to go back into the sulphur tent,” he said.

“Nearly every tray went through the sulphur twice … and every tray last week was probably laid out four times.”

Mr Werner said warmer nights had meant poor growing conditions, while more rainfall had caused damage like brown rot and fruit split in his orchards.

“The biggest issue was that it wasn’t cold enough to actually set the fruit,” he said.

“We want cold night winters, and nice hot summers, but we’re not getting any of that at the moment.”

The weather conditions have meant Mr Werner has had to downgrade some of his fruit to a “bakery grade”, which means he gets paid less than half of what he would normally receive.

“In a year like this, when production was probably down about two-thirds anyway, you’re adding probably another 30 per cent in extra costs,” he said.

Shortage hits shoppers

Down the road from Mr Werner, Keryn Gorman runs a gourmet food store on the Sturt Highway called Illalangi.

The wine grape and olive grower, who stocks her own products among other South Australian foods, has been preparing to break the bad news to customers that some products will be sold out this year. 

“Pears are definitely going to be an issue,” she said.

“The fruit did not set on the tree … so even though we’re months off picking, they’re just not going to be there to harvest.”

Ms Gorman said she expected dried peaches to be in good supply despite several challenges like Queensland fruit fly outbreaks in the region, and a decreasing number of growers.

Stable prices welcome

Back at his block, Mr Werner said despite the weather woes, producing dried fruit was a worthwhile endeavour.

“Although the prices aren’t brilliant, they’re stable,” he said.

“There’s not an industry out there at the moment that’s got a stable price on their products.”