Horticulture Data

Horticulture is a major contributor to Queensland’s rural and regional communities, with the state growing majority the of Australia’s banana, pineapple, mango, mandarin, avocado, and fresh tomatoes. Over 100 fruit, vegetable and nut commodities are grown in Queensland by approximately 3,500 businesses, employing over 14,000 workers. The latest figures for Queensland horticulture show a forecast Gross Value of Production (GVP) for 2022-23 of $4.30 billion, covering fruit and nuts, vegetables, and lifestyle horticulture.

The top performing horticulture commodities in Queensland are nursery production, valued at $1.012 billion, followed by bananas ($565million), avocados ($213 million), strawberries ($157 million), macadamias ($140 million), mandarins ($118 million), capsicums ($134 million), tomatoes ($95 million).

Explore our Queensland horticulture market dashboard to interact with the latest three months of Brisbane market price and quantity data, providing:

• A platform to explore prices and volumes for ten key Queensland horticultural commodities including avocados, bananas, broccoli, capsicums, lettuce, mandarins, mangoes, strawberries, sweet potatoes and watermelons.
• An ability to search by Australian state of origin for horticulture commodities that pass through the Brisbane Market, including an option to view internationally sourced commodities passing through the same market.

Key Insights:

Horticulture in Queensland continues to be affected by labour supply issues and exacerbated by the availability of suitable accommodation in growing regions.

However, the elimination of international and domestic border restrictions across Australia, in conjunction with reduced quarantine and isolation requirements, means Queensland is well placed to address labour shortages, especially in the horticulture sector.

High input costs, such as fuel and fertiliser, continue to impact the viability of fruit and vegetable businesses. Further, supply chain partners have also been impacted by high freight costs and reduced capacity that adversely affects profitability.

It is expected that investment in AgTech will transform the horticulture industry in the medium term to improve efficiencies in production and labour demand through applied automation and mechanisation. Going forward, productivity improvements are expected to account for most of the projected growth in agricultural production.

Wholesale market price data is supplied by Ausmarket Consultants in agreement with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for use in this informative dashboard. Prices in this report have been sourced by the independent Market Reporting Service in Brisbane, Market Information Services. Every effort has been made to ensure that the prices are accurate. Ausmarket Consultants and Market Information Services shall not be liable to any party in respect to any loss or damage arising from the reliance on this information. The prices in this report are provided a guide only and should not be regarded as a record of every sale from Brisbane Markets.

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