WA’s reputation for clean and green food has caught the attention of a Chinese company, who wants to build a flour mill near Perth to make noodles for children.
The plan is based on an increasing concern amongst Chinese parents following a series of food contamination and substitution incidents that have caused death and illness in children in recent years, The West Australian reports.
It is believed construction of the flour mill and associated noodle processing and packaging plant would cost a minimum $45 million based on production of 300 tonnes of flour a day.
The State Government said the proposal was part of what it predicted would become a wave of Chinese investment in agriculture worth billions of dollars.
Regional Development Minister Terry Redman met the company behind the move as part of high-level talks in China in the past few days that included government officials and State-owned enterprises.
Redman would not name the company behind the flour mill project but said it was a big grain processor in southern China with a wide distribution network. "The company tell us that the premium they will get from the food safety of the supply chain is sufficient to make the numbers work," he said.
Interflour chief executive Greg Harvey, who operates a string of flour mills in south-west Asia, processing grain from WA farms, said the plan had merit because of WA's reputation overseas.
He said food safety factors had been key to the success of iconic WA brands Harvey Fresh and Harvey Beef, recently bought by billionaire Andrew Forrest, in building markets in China.
Redman also met Shanghai Zhongfu president Pui Ngai Wu to discuss a billion-dollar investment in the sugar industry on the Ord River irrigation scheme.