The latest edition of the Australian Horticulture Statistics Handbook is now live.

The Handbook features data on more than 70 horticultural products including fruits and nuts.The data shows that in 2018/19, the horticulture sector recorded its highest production value to date.

It reports that the sector has experienced seven years of consecutive growth, with the new data showing industry growth by 8.4 per cent or a $1.1 billion annual increase to reach a total value of $14.4 billion. The average compound annual growth rate over the last five years has been 5.6 per cent, or a total of 31 per cent.
 
Results by category show that in the fruit sector, the value of berries and citrus accounted for nearly one third (32 per cent) of the total value of fruit in 2018/19.
 
Almonds were the highest-valued horticulture product overall, achieving a record export value of $675 million. Almonds and macadamias also accounted for 89 per cent of the total value of nut production in 2018/19, up from 85 per cent in the previous year.
 
Hort Innovation’s Head of Data and Insights, Adam Briggs, said the Handbook provided important data for industry, researchers and decision makers; supported policy formation; and contributed to further research to benefit all horticulture industries.
 
He said the ongoing investment in the development and improvement of the Handbook meant new metrics which reported information about retail and foodservice distribution for fruit and vegetable products is now available. Further, the accessibility of the Handbook has also been improved.
 
“The new interface allows users to dynamically select products ‘on demand’ and perform a greater range of timeseries analysis on the data which now dates back seven years to 2012/13,” he said.