Australia is set to export dried red papaya to the U.S. for the first time, offering a promising new market for the industry while addressing a waste problem. However, ongoing tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump have left many countries, including Australia, on edge about future trade stability.
Category
đź“ş
TVTranscript
00:00These papayas are going on a long journey.
00:12From Queensland's Atherton Tablelands to the United States.
00:16They're part of the first trial to export red papaya as dried fruit.
00:24It's been an ambitious undertaking ever since the opportunity first came knocking.
00:30For us that was like the opening of the most amazing magical door.
00:34And through that door was an Australian first project.
00:40We got an export order from Trader Joe's in the US, so at the moment our main focus is
00:46drying papaya because the order was way more bigger than what we ever expected it to be.
00:53Trader Joe's is a US grocery store chain that focuses on organic produce and has nearly
00:59600 shopfronts across the country.
01:02Fruit dryer Mariba Orchards has struck a deal worth nearly a million Australian dollars
01:07to send 360,000 packets of dried red papaya to be stocked in all those stores.
01:15Melbourne-based owner Milton Levine was the one who envisioned that doorway to America.
01:20He negotiated with the supermarket giant for nearly two years to make it happen.
01:26If you get into a Trader Joe's store, no matter how you swing it, it's a big deal.
01:33The biggest challenge would be establishing more of a market for dried papaya.
01:38The fruit's air-dried with no preservatives or added sugar and has a very low water content
01:42so it can keep.
01:44Milton Levine says that gives the fruit a more fibrous look and texture than other dried
01:48papaya fruit.
01:49And a different taste too.
01:52People are not used to eating dried red papaya.
01:56So it's something new, it's something different, but it's something which when people do eat
02:03it and we've had a lot of positive feedback, a lot of emails, a lot of text messages from
02:08people all over the United States saying that it's really great and they really love it.
02:16This trial needed to turn 230 tonnes of fresh papaya into 15 tonnes of dried fruit.
02:23Trudy Berzadenhout has been in charge of making sure that happens.
02:28They get peeled, deseeded, sliced, we put them on trays, goes into trolleys and then
02:34trolleys are placed into dehydrators that extracts the humidity out of the fruit.
02:40They're in the drying room for approximately 28 hours.
02:45When they come out they should be soft like a marshmallow.
02:48We take them off the trays, seal them in plastic bags and containers until they're ready for
02:53packing.
02:54I think value adding is definitely the way to go and also we are very limited in Australia.
03:02We need to look to export.
03:03Yes, our wages are high, yes, our cost of production is high, but we can compete.
03:09We can compete.
03:10In our case with a fully natural product.