Australian Dragon Fruit Growers Association

In Australia, the dragon fruit industry is a small specialised industry.  The Northern Territory is the largest producer. Dragon fruit is also grown in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales.

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Dragon fruit is long day flower plant, so it is available during summer. The main harvest period for dragon fruit in the Northern Territory is September to March/April, and in Queensland is January to May/June.  Imports of dragon fruit are allowed from Vietnam (2017) and Indonesia (2018).

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According to the industry stocktaking survey in 2012 conducted by AgriFutures, there were around 50,000 planting sites/pole in Australia with 62% of them are in Northern Territory. The farm gate value of the dragon fruit industry is about $2.25 million from a production of 750 tones. The majority of the plantings in the Northern Territory are white-fleshed dragon fruit (Hylocerus undatus) while Queensland produces a high proportion of red-fleshed dragon fruit (Hylocerus polyrhizus). The yellow-fleshed (Selenicereus megalanthus) is usually grown in small quantities.

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The industry landscape changed significantly since then. There is a strong growth in South East Queensland while the scale in Northern Territory shrinks a little bit. In recent years, the average price of dragon fruit in wholesale market is around $8 per kg and a coarse estimation of the the current fresh fruit production value is around $7-8 million.

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