Putting more Queensland produce on Japanese and Korean dinner tables is the firm focus of an upcoming trade mission.
Minister for agricultural industry development and fisheries Mark Furner will be joined by producers and distributors from North Queensland, Bundaberg, Gympie, Warwick and Brisbane to promote Queensland’s high-quality beef, fruit and vegetables, aquaculture and value-added food and beverages.
Furner said the trip would further strengthen the Queensland’s government’s long-standing trade and investment ties in north-east Asia through one-on-one meetings with government officials, importers, industry representatives and visits to supermarkets selling our produce.
“The pure fact is that the Japanese can’t get enough of our mouth-watering beef,” he said.
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“It is our most significant agricultural export with a value of almost $1.4 billion, which is 84 per cent of Queensland’s total agricultural exports to Japan.
“Of the 76 countries Queensland sends beef to, Japan is our most important customer,” said Furner.
That’s why the Queensland government is keen to support producers, processors and feedlotters to boost exports to Japan and attract more investment in the industry, he said.
“The more people in Japan that eat Queensland beef, the more jobs will be created in rural and regional Queensland.”
Furner will meet with Japanese buyers at a Queensland Beef Lunch in partnership with Meat and Livestock Australia in Tokyo in mid-September.
“This visit comes hot on the heels of a trade delegation from Japan and Taiwan that visited several farms and export centres around Queensland earlier this year,” he said.
“The cultivation of these ties has meant that we have made strong inroads into the Japanese produce market.
“Increasingly, Queensland fruit and vegetables – carrots, zucchini, watermelon-radish, beetroot and macadamia nuts – have made their way on to dinner tables across Japan. This coming summer we hope to see more shipments of Queensland mangoes heading to Japan as well,” said Furner.
Furner will make a similar pitch in South Korea.