Stocks of Australian tinned fruit almost exhausted nationwide

Australians have a new-found taste for tinned fruit — and it appears only the homegrown varieties will do.

Panic buying saw many Australian shoppers turn to the tinned food aisle last year, and most have never looked back.

The sustained run on canned fruit — Australian in particular — has left supermarket shelves depleted, with stock almost exhausted.

But the main supplier of tinned Australian fruit to supermarkets across the nation, SPC, says its hands are tied until fruit from this year’s harvest makes its way from the orchards to the aisles.

SPC chief executive Robert Giles said the unprecedented demand the company witnessed for its canned goods during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, last year, has not abated.

“The demand for Australian produce hasn’t gone away, but we just had to make the most out of the crop,” Mr Giles said.

“We were coming off the end of a drought so the crop was down and water prices were incredibly high.

But water prices have come down and there’s good groundwater available so the yield is better, so we’ve told farmers: ‘We’ll take everything you’ve got’.”

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a tin of SPC’s Australian-grown peaches in supermarket aisles, until this year’s crop makes its way through the supply chain.

SPC expects to take 40 per cent more fruit from Goulburn Valley farmers this year, equating to an extra 20,000 tonnes.

Mr Giles said the increase was mostly tomatoes, but also peaches, apricots, pears and apples, and would be made possible thanks to a strong growing season.

Peaches and apricots have been picked and would be back on supermarket shelves shortly, while pears and apples will follow over the next few months as the crop is harvested.

Coles and Woolworths said “extraordinary demand” during the COVID-19 pandemic and a reduced harvest last year had limited supplies of locally grown tinned fruit.

“We have seen a significant increase in demand for canned fruit in Australia since COVID-19, with stocks of Australian canned fruit from last season close to exhausted,” a Coles spokeswoman said.

“New fruit harvests have started and we will see the new season stock flow into stores in the coming month.”

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