What was it all about?

To help improve export trade conditions and develop greater efficiencies in meeting existing requirements, the Australian citrus industry determined that a dedicated resource was required to assist in overcoming market access challenges.

As a result, a full-time market access manager was appointed for the industry from 2012 until 2015 under this project.

The underlying objective was to provide technical advice to government negotiators and regulators.

During the life of the project, new opportunities were realised in China, the Philippines and Thailand. Trade into China grew from negligible to an annual value of $60 million, while the Philippines market, which had no trade at all in 2011, grew to an annual value of $6 million.

Thailand also expanded its access conditions to include all mandarin varieties, opening new opportunities for early and mid-season mandarins.

The project developed an industry-based regulatory framework that created efficiencies, reduced administrative burden, reduced cost and expedited the export registration process. The framework includes an online training package and a system for electronic lodgement of export registrations. It has extended the citrus marketing window by six weeks.

Through direct engagement with government and industry, a strong export culture was developed, assisting the value chain in understanding and fulfilling regulatory requirements.

The result was improved levels of regulatory compliance, leading to cost savings in the form of reduced monitoring and oversight by government. The market access manager also assisted exporters in each season, acting as a conduit between industry and government when issues arose.