Australian fruit growers and marketers have a better understanding of what international consumers are looking for when purchasing fruit, thanks to a series of consumer preference surveys carried out in Thailand and Indonesia.

Consumers preferred the taste of new blush pears Deliza® and Lanya® .

Agriculture Victoria Project Manager Bruce Tomkins said there were huge opportunities to grow the market for Australian pears in both countries.

“To do this however, marketers need to understand what shoppers want and prices they are willing to pay,” Mr Tomkins said.

“‘Australian grown’ was identified as a key driver for sales in all markets, but we need to provide the right cultivar of fruit, with the right physical attributes, including colour, texture and taste, at the right price,” he said.

Mr Tomkins also said now Australia had legal market access to mainland China, exports could be shipped directly to their target markets, giving Australian growers and marketers more supply chain control and influence over the condition of their product when it reached consumers.

The study looked at two new pears Deliza® and Lanya®  in Thailand and Indonesia and compared them to the well-known Packham pear.  Consumer preference testing was undertaken in Jakarta and Bangkok between January and July 2016. Key findings included:

• A price point under 70,000 IDR (AU¹ $6.51) per kg for Indonesia and under 269 TBH (AU$10.83¹) per kg for Thailand is preferred.
• International supermarkets are where Indonesians like to buy fruit. Fresh Markets are the choice of Thai consumers.
• Indonesian and Thai consumers prefer to buy pears individually in loose formats one to three times per week.
• Consumers in Indonesia like to buy pears because they are healthy, and the whole family likes them. Thai consumers buy pears because they taste great and are versatile.

“The information collected is being used by industry to make decisions on what fruit to invest in and grow for export,” Mr Tomkins said.

“The information is also being shared with retailers in export markets to help ensure Australian fruit is stored, handled, displayed and promoted to maximise sales.”

Full copies of the Consumer Preference research reports are available to members of  Apple & Pear Australia Limited by contacting Angus Crawford on acrawford@apal.org.au

Project summaries are available to the public at hin.com.au

The study, funded by the Australian Government through the Rural Research and Development for Profit program, with co-investment from Horticulture Innovation Australia and the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR) Victoria.

¹ XE Currency conversion as at 12 January 2018.