TABLE grape growers are not expecting to see a flood of imported grapes from China yet.
Biosecurity Australia last week approved a request to allow Chinese table grapes, subject to quarantine measures and a pending risk analysis for spotted wing drosophila, a pest fly that is native to China.
Australian Table Grape Association president Nick Muraca said any imports would be counter-seasonal and were not expected to greatly disrupt the local industry.
"In terms of marketing, it will apply pressure to northern growers, but it's something that we knew was coming," Mr Muraca said. "We can't expect to have the privilege of having access into the Chinese market with 1.3 billion people and deny access to China for our 20 million people.
"The fact that they're going to get access doesn't automatically mean they're going to ship here.
"They may sit on that, having market access, for years."
Mr Muraca said imports of table grapes from the US since 2002 had allowed Australians to buy fruit all year round.
"Some people say it's good because, if a consumer likes a product and they can buy it 12 months of the year and it's sweet 12 months of the year ... can reduce the temptation for Australian growers to pick fruit that's not quite ready," he said.
Mr Muraca said it was hard to know what varieties might be sent to Australia because of China's plant-breeding program.
ATGA chief executive officer Jeff Scott said China was one of the world's biggest table grape-producing countries, harvesting seven million tonnes compared with Australia's 125,000 tonnes, but exported a much smaller proportion of its grapes.
"They're not export-focused and their exports go primarily to neighbouring countries across the border or across the sea," he said.
