Potatoes in Australia: mashing previous records

Developed by Freshlogic, the annual Horticulture Statistics Handbook includes the latest available data on 75 different categories across fruit, vegetable, nut, nursery, and cut flowers in Australia.

And this year, potatoes were top performers in volume growth.

Hort Innovation Head of Data and Insights Adam Briggs said the rise correlates with Aussies also buying more spuds when they visit retailers, and their use in food service has climbed year on year.

Adam Briggs, Hort Innovation Head of Data and Insights:

"The humble spud has become a bit of a vegetable superstar. From the year ending June 2020 to the year ending June 2021, we’ve seen the value of potatoes climb by USD 90.9M, and the tonnes produced rise by 5 percent. Mr. Briggs said the data showed 87 percent of Australian households purchased potatoes, buying an average of 1.7kg per shopping trip."

The Horticulture Statistics Handbook is released each February and captures the previous financial year’s data. The user-friendly guide includes figures on retail and foodservice use, exports and imports, the share of production by State and Territory, wholesale value, and volume.

More data and insights from the 2020/2021 Handbook include:
 

• The value of fruit was stronger than the previous year after a rise in olive production (USD 99 million), avocados (USD 56 million), cherries (USD 47 million), and apples (USD 41 million).
• Table grapes were the most valuable fruit (USD 631.8 million). Apples took the number two spot in value (USD 619.9 million) and overtook bananas (USD 596.8 million).
• More berries are available to Australians than ever before. Over an eight-year period, the volume of raspberries and blackberries has increased more than four-fold, while blueberry volumes have almost tripled.
• Oranges have seen the eighth year of consecutive growth in production value to reach a new high of USD 437.6 million, despite a -7% fall in production volume. Oranges have experienced an average 9.80% compound annual growth rate in value since 2012/13.
• Despite export disruptions, Victoria remains the largest driver with 46% of total export value. Queensland was second with 16% of export value - up from 12% the previous year when it was the fourth-highest behind, Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia. The macadamia industry recorded a significant increase in the production value (12.8%) and volume (38.4%) compared to 2019/20.
• Both the turf and nursery sectors continue to record a strong growth trajectory. The value of the turf industry exceeded USD 300 million for the first time, after a 9.9 % increase in value from 2019/20, while the value of the production nursery industry increased by USD 226 million, an 8.8% increase from 2019/20.
• Mr. Briggs said the data reflected the obvious challenges growers faced given global circumstances in the period captured, 2020-2021, but there were also many positives including a foodservice recovery.

Adam Briggs:
 

"Something encouraging is that foodservice is returning from the lows we saw in 2019/20,” he said. “For example, fruit foodservice volume and value has rebounded, and the value is now exceeding pre-Covid levels."