The Australian government’s export credit agency, the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC), is helping South Australia’s South State Food & Beverage to access working capital for new export opportunities in China and Taiwan.
The Adelaide-based manufacturer of ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic beverages and food products already exports its products around the world.
EFIC provided a working capital guarantee to Westpac, enabling the bank to lend additional funds to South State to help the company finance increases in the cost of packaging for markets in China and Taiwan.
EFIC’s guarantee, known as EFIC Headway, enables small- and medium-sized exporters like South State access to additional working capital from their bank.
“It’s great to receive orders for our beverages in China and Taiwan, but it also means extra packaging and labelling costs for these markets,” Stephen Williams, South State managing director, said.
“The additional funds available through EFIC Headway have helped us seize these new export opportunities and build on our existing Asian customer base in Japan, Korea and Singapore.”