Australia’s largest cannery will reduce its canned fruit production as cost-of-living pressures push consumers towards low-cost imports.
SPC in Shepparton, northern Victoria, has told fruit growers it will reduce consumption of peaches and pears by more than 40 per cent next season, citing tough competition from foreign produce.
“The average Australian household is under pressure and customers are purchasing alternative products imported from countries such as South Africa and China where the cost of production is lower,” an SPC spokesperson said in a statement.
“As a result of this reduced demand, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our orders for peaches and pears for the upcoming season.”
SPC expects its peach and pear volume to normalize in 2026.
SPC in Shepparton, northern Victoria (pictured), has told fruit growers it will reduce consumption of peaches and pears by more than 40 per cent next season, citing tough competition from foreign produce .
Their supply of apricots, plums and apples remains unchanged.
Victorian Fruit Growers service manager Mick Crisera said while the announcement, made at a supplier meeting last month, gives growers time to make decisions about the upcoming season, it still caught them by surprise.
“Between 12 and 18 months ago, the cannery was talking about encouraging producers to plant more,” Crisera told AAP.
“Now, in 18 months they won’t be able to sell their shares.”
Growers now face difficult decisions about whether to prune their trees or remove them entirely.
“It just depends on which growers want to take a gamble and keep growing until the end of the season in the hope that (SPC) may need more,” Crisera said.
The tariffs were necessary to protect Australian producers as cost pressures pushed consumers towards cheap imported products, he added.
“I don’t think many consumers realize that a lot of those Select, Coles, Aldi or IGA branded products, even though they say they’re a community company, are actually a product from China or South Africa,” Mr Crisera said. .
SPC expects its peach and pear volume to normalize in 2026
‘There needs to be some form of protection for Australian producers.
“Every other country in the world seems to want to protect their producers, except Australia.”
The Goulburn Valley “orchard” region has faced difficult conditions in recent years, with rising costs, tight margins and crops lost or damaged by extreme weather conditions.
“It has been hard work,” said Mr. Crisera.
“We need to make the Australian public as aware as possible of the challenges producers face.”
Jeremy Griffith, a member of the National Farmers Federation’s horticulture council, said he remained disappointed with the amount large supermarkets were importing from abroad.
“It’s not a huge surprise that we’re seeing the reputations of major supermarkets fall off a cliff,” Griffith told AAP.
‘Producers cannot get a fair return for their products; we have producers who reported that they have not had a price increase for 15 years.
“That’s the level of dominance of Coles and Woollies in this country.”
Griffith said the difficult environment for producers posed a threat to national food security.
He hoped the federal government’s review of major supermarkets could offer them a better deal.
According to the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, cannery employees have not been given any indication of potential job cuts.
“There has been no consultation on this announcement,” union organizer Candice Tierney told AAP.
“Which doesn’t discourage us all, but we’re a little disappointed that they haven’t put out an offer to employees about what this will look like.”