China may become world macadamia nut leader - FreshFruitPortal.com

China may become world macadamia nut leader

Countries More News Top Stories
China may become world macadamia nut leader

First it was Hawaii, then South Africa, now China has adopted Australia's native macadamia nut with aggressive plantings set to take the industry by storm. Macadamias close-up

Australian Macadamia Society chief executive officer Jolyon Burnett told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) China could possibly reach Australian or South African production levels within 15 years.

"Presently the yields are significantly lower than Australian or South African yields, that's partly because many of their trees are very young," Burnett was quoted as saying.

"They already have around 6 million trees in the ground which is the equivalent to the entire Australian industry.

"Production is currently very low but I think if they can address some of the many challenges they face it will be a significant and credible production region in the future."

After a recent visit to China's Yunnan province where around 70-80% of the country's macadamias are planted, Burnett told the broadcaster that cold weater, elevation and difficult slopes were some of the challenges faced by the aspiring producer.

"The Yunnan Government has combined with commercial interests to see macadamia production as perhaps a way out for some of the poor local farmers who have been practising subsistence agriculture to this point," he told the ABC, highlighting the Yunnan Institute of Tropical Crops had 20 researchers working on the nut.

"One of the characteristics they're breeding for is thin shells, so they're after what they call a paper shell nut, something that could be hand-cracked," he was quoted as saying.

Related stories: Australia: a high value response to high wages

South African macadamia nut production set for incremental growth

Photo: www.shutterstock.com

www.freshfruitportal.com

 

Subscribe to our newsletter