Australia air freight crunch hits top-end food producers

Sydney

AN unprecedented shortage of air cargo space, after years of booming exports to Asia, is forcing Australian producers of top-end foods to potentially miss out on hundreds of millions of dollars in sales of everything from lobster to cherries.

Australia has been pushing to become the "delicatessen of Asia", tapping its favourable climate to send crates of luxury produce such as figs and edible flowers to store shelves across the increasingly affluent region.