(Photo: Twitter)
May 30, 2018
Kingaroy peanuts have received some surprise publicity courtesy of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s trade mission to Japan this week.
The Premier visited a Tokyo retailer on Wednesday selling the Peanut Company of Australia’s “Picky Picky Peanuts” brand.
“It’s just over a year since Trade and Investment Queensland helped PCA start exporting its peanuts (to Japan) to be sold through Plaza retail stores,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“In that time, the demand for Picky Picky Peanuts has grown so much they’re now being sold in over 5000 stores throughout Japan, through a variety of wholesalers.
“To capitalise on that success, Picky Picky Peanuts started selling online in Japan in April this year, and since then they have ranked as the number one selling peanut on Japanese online shopping site Rakuten.
“That’s the sort of success we now want to see replicated for Queensland fruit and vegetable crops.”
Premier Palaszczuk said Trade and Investment Queensland would lead a delegation of Japanese food importers to Queensland next month.
“Since 2015, more than 240 containers of Queensland fruit and vegetables have made their way onto dinner plates across Japan,” the Premier said.
“We’ve had success with Queensland carrots, zucchini, watermelon, beetroot and in particular, nuts.
“Now we want to bring the buyers directly to growers of crops including red cabbage, broccoli, corn, lettuce and ginger.”
Between 2016 and 2017 Queensland fruit and vegetables exports to Japan rose 20 per cent, to $17.7 million.
Nut exports alone were worth $9.1 million in 2017.
Queensland grows more than 90 per cent of Australia’s annual peanut crop.
