Queensland strawberry glut has growers selling at a loss
Australian Strawberry Growers Association president, John Calle, said Australian supermarkets were paying growers about $1.30 a punnet despite it costing around $1.50 to $1.60 to produce a punnet of strawberries, which meant growers were working at a loss at the moment.
While Australian strawberry growers normally suffer a glut of supply around October, Mr Calle said, Queenslanders had suffered from oversupply earlier this year, partly due to Cyclone Debbie.
“The cyclone up in Queensland affected all the strawberry growers,” he said.
“They all planted at the same time, so all the strawberries come in at the same time and there’s an oversupply — that’s the reason why the prices are so low down.”
Source: weeklytimesnow.com.au