Soluna to double down on export success in 2024

Export markets for Soluna™ in the Middle East and Asia are being locked in for Australian growers ahead of European plantings in 2025. 

Key points 

• Exports of Soluna doubled in 2023. 

• Aim to export 70 per cent of Australian Soluna by 2044. 

• 10-year exclusivity agreement protects key markets for Australian exports. 

• International test plantings across the globe. 

• Strategic tree planting plan set for Australia. 

Strong export growth of Soluna-branded apples is forecast to continue in 2024 as variety managers and marketers build on stellar results in 2023 and press ahead with a strategy to ultimately export 70 per cent of the Australian crop within two decades. 

Exports into Asia and the Middle East of the striking burgundy-coloured ANABP 01 variety – bred in Western Australia and sold domestically as Bravo® – doubled in 2023 in response to a targeted, consumer-focused international marketing campaign. 

Marketer WA Farm Direct aims to increase them by 20 per cent again in 2024. 

At that rate of growth, Soluna exports would exceed the total volume of apples of all varieties exported from Australia in 2023 within two to three years. 

Although still relatively small volumes, surging Soluna exports are a shining star in an otherwise bleak picture for Australian apple exports. Since the 1980s, national apple exports have slumped from 30 per cent to less than 1 per cent in 2023, as higher costs of production and a strong Australian dollar make it difficult to compete internationally. 

Boosting exports is a key industry priority – alongside lifting quality to drive consumption and removing unprofitable blocks – in taking pressure off the domestic market and securing sustainable pricing. 

Developed in the same Manjimup-based Australian National Apple Breeding Program1 that produced Cripps Pink (sold internationally as Pink Lady®) and Cripps Red (Sundowner®/Joya®), ANABP 01 showed export potential early on. 

WA Farm Direct Executive Manager Rebecca Blackman said Soluna’s distinctive colour, crisp and juicy texture and sweet flavour had proved a hit with consumers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. 

Marketing, led by WA Farm Direct Managing Director – and APAL’s 2023 Marketer of the Year – Jenny Mercer, was tailored to each market. 

The mix of point-of-sale activities, in-store tasting, television and social media campaigns and events and eye-catching branded packaging proved highly successful in engaging consumers and driving sales. 

“In 2023 we exported 12 per cent of the crop,” Rebecca said. “This year, we’re expecting 15 per cent of the crop to be exported. The target is 70 per cent by 2044. 

“We’ve got some ambitious targets, but a lot of planning has gone into this strategy.” 

In-store tasting, pictured here in Thailand, was effective in engaging customers and driving purchases. Photo: Fruit West

Going global 

Growing the brand internationally is integral to plans for the ANABP 01 variety that have been recently finalised by the Western Australian Government, which owns the variety, and its Australian commercialisation manager, WA grower co-operative Fruit West. 

TopStar Alliance, a partnership of TopFruit (South Africa) and Star Fruits (Europe), has been appointed to manage international commercialisation.  

Unveiling the plans to industry at Hort Connections in Melbourne in early June, TopStar said testing was already underway on test sites and with consumers in Europe, Canada, United States, South America and Japan, with plans underway to roll out to India, Korea, New Zealand and, eventually, China. 

Commercial plantings are slated to begin internationally in Europe in 2025, but first Fruit West has taken proactive steps to ensure the brand equity they have developed in these markets is secure. 

A 10-year agreement struck with TopStar ensures Soluna is managed exclusively by Fruit West in Middle East and Asian markets. This includes fruit grown by Australian producers and fruit grown in territories outside Australia. 

Fruit West chair and WA grower Ann Lyster, who has championed the variety since it was first planted commercially in 2014, said the agreement would not only secure export markets for Australian growers but, by ensuring Australian apples were in the market, reinforce the reputation of all Australian apples internationally for their unmatched quality and taste. 

Although export is a priority, WA Farm Direct continues to explore opportunities for market growth of Bravo apples domestically. 

With the variety development plan finalised, the brand management in Asia and the Middle East locked in and international planting imminent, a cap on domestic tree numbers has been set at 1 million trees. A major review of the ANABP 01 program and the sustainability of returns for growers is set for 2029. This will be the first formal opportunity to review the variety development plan. 

Australian-bred ANABP 01 will be planted commercially in Europe in 2025, but an exclusivity agreement has secured Australian growers’ access to key Asian markets for a decade.

Export benefits flow beyond ANABP 01 growers 

South Australian grower Noel Mason – and APAL’s 2024 Grower of the Year – was one of a couple of Adelaide Hills growers who sent Soluna-branded fruit to Singapore out of Lenswood Co-op in late May. The family-run orchard is also registered for export to Thailand. 

“I think the Australian industry needs to participate in apple export,” he said. “As a grower we feel some responsibility to contribute to the cause. If we can shift 10–15 per cent of the national crop [of all apple varieties] off the domestic market, that would be a good outcome.” 

Noel said registration for Thailand required some additional paperwork, costs and ongoing pest monitoring. Checking chemistry use was within MRLs (see APAL MRL app details on the right) for destination markets that may have different requirements to Australia was also necessary. 

As registration has to be done in August/September, export had to be committed to before the season had even started. After registration, decisions on if, where and when fruit is exported were made by the marketers. 

As export and domestic sales are pooled prior to distribution, there is no direct financial advantage in exporting ANABP 01.  

First planted commercially a decade ago, there are now 80 ANABP 01 growers domestically across the mainland growing regions. Whether exporting directly or not, the export focus was seen by those growers APAL spoke to as valuable for reducing reliance on the domestic market and helping to underpin program returns. 

Batlow grower Greg Mouat said that in an oversupplied domestic market, growers were price takers. 

“That won’t change until either a lot more fruit is pushed out or we get a more significant export market to get some of that volume offshore,” he said. “It’ll only happen, I think, by variety and [ANABP 01] might be a variety that can shift more offshore.” 

Goulburn Valley grower and licensed Bravo packer Gerard Alampi, PrimaFresh, said new outlets would be increasingly important as ongoing productivity growth boosted apple volumes. 

“We want growth, but we need to be looking at export so we have other options to move that volume,” he said. “Otherwise we will be back where we are now, putting pressure on prices.” 

Soluna exports taking off was a credit to the marketers, Gerard said, who had built a plan from scratch, spent a lot of time and ‘sold it really, really well’. 

“They’ve invested a lot of money into their export markets,” he said. “They’ve got an apple that has a point of difference, it’s a really good product and they have gone to the right markets, they’ve gone to the right customers, and it’s really taken off well.” 

Gerard said the indications from domestic retailers, markets and independents was equally promising, with the view that Bravo was sufficiently different to do well. 

“You look at all the independents, they all range it,” he said. “If a variety’s not performing, they wouldn’t range it. I get a lot of feedback from consumers and from retailers and it’s all positive.” 

The APAL MRL app, available from the Apple App Store or Google Play, provides maximum residue limits (MRLs) and withholding periods (WHPs) for fungicides and insecticides registered for use in apple and pear production. 

This article was first published in the Winter 2024 edition of AFG.