Gives a good idea of the size of the Chinese citrus industry.


http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200902/s2481779.htm

Fears ease about China flooding citrus market

Wednesday, 04/02/2009

It's technically backward, often small scale and dependant on abundant and cheap labour - but the Chinese citrus industry is huge.

With almost two million hectares planted to citrus, compared to Australia's 20,000 hecatres, the Chinese industry is often seen as a potential threat to this country's export markets.

But after a recent tour of the China's orchards and processors, Western Australia's citrus industry development officer, Nathan Hancock, says Australian growers shouldn't be concerned about competition.

"They already are producing 60 million tonnes of citrus juice, but they are still importing 90 million tonnes of juice from Brazil," he says.

"They've got a long way to go to replace that import, so I feel that there is not such a threat for China to flood our market."