A significant growth in Indonesia’s demand for the import of meat and produce is set to benefit Australian exporters.
Demand for meat, dairy products and fruit and vegetables have quickly grown as Indonesia’s affluent urban population becomes more integrated within the market.
According to Abares, the Ministry of Agriculture’s commodity forecaster, the market will be worth US$150bn assuming that there are no significant changes to agricultural productivity growths.
“In the case of Indonesia, the current consumption level per person is relatively low. But with income growth, for the future we expect that demand will increase quite significantly over the period to 2050,” the report said.
Indonesia is Australia’s largest export market for wheat, with more than half of Indonesia’s imported wheat (representing 20 per cent of Australia’s total wheat exports) coming from Australia in 2014.
Wheat is the major winter crop grown in Australia with sowing starting in autumn and harvesting, depending on seasonal conditions, occurring in spring and summer. The main producing states are Western Australia, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland.
The majority of Australian wheat is sold overseas with Western Australia the largest exporting state. The major export markets are in the Asian and Middle East regions and include Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and Sudan.
Wheat grown for domestic consumption and feedstock is predominately produced on the east coast.