Capsicum Season

Capsicums are available year-round in Australia, with peak supply running from summer through to autumn. Queensland's subtropical growing regions drive most of the national crop, with harvest in areas like Bundaberg and the Wide Bay Burnett peaking between May and August. You'll find the best prices and the widest choice of colours right through that cooler-month window.

Capsicum is in season across summer and autumn in Australia, with peak supply from December to April.

Capsicums are warm-season plants from the Solanaceae family, originating in tropical Central and South America. They grow as bushy annuals reaching 60–90 cm, with fruit ready in around 12 weeks from transplanting. They thrive between 15°C and 32°C. Days above 32°C cause flowers and young fruit to drop, while nights below 10°C produce malformed fruit, according to the DAF Queensland DCAP report. Australian commercial operations use plastic mulch with drip fertigation. Colour differences between green, red and yellow capsicums come down to maturity. Green capsicums are simply red or yellow ones picked two to three weeks earlier, before the sugars and colour develop, which is why they're cheaper at the checkout, as ABC Rural reported in 2024.

Capsicums are native to tropical Central and South America and spread globally after European contact in the 15th and 16th centuries. In Australia they were once a niche crop, and widespread adoption came largely with post-war migration. As Carl Walker, a Queensland grower and president of the Bowen Gumlu Growers Association, told ABC Rural in 2024, "When migrants started to arrive here with diverse foods like capsicum, the wider community realised how nice they are to eat." By 2011 capsicums were already Australia's seventh-largest vegetable crop by value, per AUSVEG Vegetable Spotlight, with annual per-capita consumption running at around 2.9 kg.

According to Hort Innovation, Australia produced 84,446 tonnes of capsicums worth $257.9 million in 2024/25, up from around 71,000–77,000 tonnes through most of the previous decade, with value more than doubling since 2014/15 as growers shifted toward higher-grade colour varieties. Household penetration sits at around 65–77% depending on the survey year. Exports are small (around 400 tonnes in 2024/25) and imports have fallen from over 1,900 tonnes in 2014/15 to 249 tonnes in 2024/25 as domestic production has grown. ABC Rural reported in 2024 that Whitsunday growers were receiving about $2 per kilogram while the same capsicums retailed at $7.50–$9.90.