- The Hon David Littleproud MP, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management
Millions of Australian mangoes will soon be on their way to key export markets around the world, thanks to support from the Liberal-³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Government’s International Freight Assistance Mechanism (IFAM).
With a $317.1 million funding boost in the Federal Budget, IFAM continues to support Australian exporters, including our mango growers to get their high-quality produce overseas. Starting from today premium Australian mangoes will be on flights from Brisbane to customers across the United States, with further flights commencing in the coming weeks including from Sydney and Cairns to South Korea, China and the Middle East.
Federal Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said it was vital that mango growers across northern Australia can start to pick mangoes with confidence knowing their produce can get onto planes and over to key export markets.
“Our mango growers are expecting a bumper season and we want to make sure they can continue to get their high-quality product over to their overseas customers,” Minister Birmingham said.
“Growers have worked incredibly hard to secure export contracts and build a strong reputation for premium, safe and reliable produce that remains in high demand across the globe.
“It would literally be a case of mango madness if Aussie export contracts were lost just because COVID-19 has grounded most flights.
“Our freight flights have already supported almost $2.5 billion in exports, maintaining important relationships with overseas customers at a time of significant uncertainty and export barriers.
“By supporting our mango growers to get more local produce out the door during the COVID-19 pandemic, we can protect more jobs and inject more export dollars into the economy.”
Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud said that our $669 million investment in IFAM was supporting the Australian mango industry as well as other export sectors at a critical time.
“We continue to stand behind our hard-working mango growers because they make such an important contribution to their rural and regional communities.
“With exports and trade identified as a priority action area under the government’s Ag2030 plan, only the Liberal ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s in government can be trusted to consistently deliver for our food and fibre producers,” Minister Littleproud said today.
