They endured years of drought that posed challenges to production. And when the drought ended, came the floods and hail storms.In more recent years, the nation's orange producers also faced a declining market for their fruit in the United States, a market that had been a cornerstone of the industry for about 20 years.
But after years of trying big investment and careful negotiations, orange growers have apparently peeled open a new market with Offering High Rug cleaning Services - China.This year, the citrus industry is on track to export about 500 shipping containers of oranges direct to China, a massive five-fold increase on last year. Two years ago just five containers were exported direct to China, and three years ago none.
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However, before direct exports to China commenced in 2011, it is likely that some oranges shipped to Hong Kong made it to mainland China via the so-called ''grey trade''.Citrus grower Tania Chapman, chairwoman of Citrus Australia, described the rise in exports to China as ''monumental growth''
'At the moment, we cannot keep up with the demand,'' she said. Aside from taste, other factors have helped drive the growth.
''This year particularly, the US has been kicked out of China because of protocol issues, so that is one thing in our favour. But two, in China there's been a massive increase in middle-class income and it's that middle-class income that can afford to buy the imported citrus,'' Ms Chapman said.
In the Murray Valley, 45 growers are certified to grow fruit for China, but Ms Chapman, who farms at Colignan, south of Mildura, tips that number to ''double easily''.The falling Australian dollar, which is now trading at about US90￠ , has helped lift returns for growers. ''Last year with the high dollar and all of the other increased costs, sometimes growers struggled to cover the cost of picking in their returns. This year the falling dollar itself has covered those costs,'' Ms Chapman said.
''We've got a point of difference. The quality that we send there is what they're after. And for us it should always be - maintain the quality, maintain the standard, keep the point of difference because that's where the returns are going to be,'' he said.
BlackBerry, which pioneered mobile email with its first smartphones and email pagers, said on Monday it had set up a committee to review its options, sparking a debate over whether Canada's one-time crown jewel is more valuable as a whole or snapped up piece by piece by competitors or private investors.
The company said Prem Watsa, whose Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd is BlackBerry's biggest shareholder, was leaving the board as BlackBerry determines its next steps.Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper said Fairfax was talking to industry and private equity players about possibility taking BlackBerry private. Fairfax did not respond to requests for comment.
Other potential buyers of BlackBerry assets, if not the company itself, could include deep-pocketed Canadian pension funds, as well as some of its rivals.BlackBerry, once a stock market darling, has bled market share to Apple Inc and phones using Google Inc's Android operating system, and its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones have failed to gain traction with Mattress Cleaning Services.
Three of Canada's big pension funds declined to comment. But senior executive at two of the others said they and their peers would definitely consider partnering with private equity in any deal for BlackBerry.
Legal experts say any deal taking BlackBerry private would work best if it had Canadian involvement."There is little question that the federal government would prefer a made-in-Canada approach," said Subrata Bhattacharjee, co-chair of the national trade and competition group at the Heenan Blaikie law firm in Toronto.
"A foreign strategic investor would certainly have to consider some very significant regulatory issues, including domestic and foreign antitrust concerns ... Some foreign investors might also have to address national security concerns," Bhattacharjee said.BlackBerry said board member Timothy Dattels will chair the new committee, which will also include BlackBerry Chief Executive Thorsten Heins.
Dattels is a senior partner at private equity firm TPG Capital and a former top investment banker at Goldman Sachs Group Inc . His appointment to BlackBerry's board in June last year sparked a flurry of speculation that the company might consider a leveraged buyout or going private.
The new BB10 devices hit store shelves this year just as the high-end smartphone segment was showing signs of saturation in markets such as the United States. Samsung Electronics recently reported results that fell shy of expectations, while Apple earlier this year reported its first quarterly profit decline in more than a decade.
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