A new Food & Beverage Export Catalogue has been launched online to connect export-ready Queensland agri-food suppliers with overseas buyers.
According to the Food and Agribusiness Industry Growth Centre, trading as Food Innovation Australia (FIAL), in the Capturing the prize report, there is an opportunity to unlock more than $200 billion by 2030 for Australia.
For Queensland, the food and agribusiness opportunity could be worth almost $43 billion by 2030 in value added, resulting in 176,000 new jobs and more than tripling the current size of the sector.
FIAL’s mission is to provide export ready food suppliers with an avenue to promote their products and connect with new domestic and international buyers via an online environment. FIAL general manager Commercial, Rod Arenas, said the world will need to produce 70 per cent more food by 2050 to meet the demands of a growing population.
“Exports can also encourage salary increases, with 28 per cent more staff earning on average 11 per cent higher wages than non-exporting businesses,” Arenas said. “Given the economic, supply chain and geopolitical challenges we’re currently experiencing, it’s arguably more important than ever for the sector to secure strong and reliable buyer-supplier relationships.
“We are poised to underpin a future where buyer-supplier relationships are built on problem-solving and value creation via technology. Digital tech holds the key to simplifying processes, and reaching buyers interested in sourcing Australian products in a whole new way.”
In continuing to facilitate access to high quality Australian food products, FIAL has developed the Queensland Food & Beverage Export Catalogue. Supported and funded through Queensland’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), the catalogue is a free online resource that connects overseas buyers with export-ready Queensland food and beverage companies.
By matching business opportunities to Queensland exporters, the catalogue provides a one-stop-shop to almost 1000 pre-qualified global buyers. Additionally, virtual “Meet the buyer” events are held to facilitate opportunities for specific markets.
Food & Beverage Industry News asked two Queensland exporters how the Queensland Food & Beverage Export Catalogue has supported their journeys in delivering their products to the world.
Four Daughters
In south western Queensland, 50km west of Meandarra (between Roma and St George), a family-owned and operated beef grazing enterprise named Four Daughters supplies 225 non-branded head per week to domestic supermarkets under Meat Standards Australia.
“We background cattle, we breed cattle and we also finish our cattle in a feedlot so that we have the same consistency of finish for our beef every week,” Four Daughters co-owner and third generation grazier Karen Penfold said.
However, Penfold admits that it was never their intention to venture into exporting.
“We had no intention actually of exporting beef to the world, so I suppose the message there is, it can be done,” she said. “We went with the opportunity when it arose and we’ve just navigated our way through the challenges of export. It was a very steep learning curve.”
Although challenging, learning about the export process has been rewarding for Four Daughters. According to Penfold, the key to navigating those challenges was engaging with the right networks, referring to successful one-to-one meetings with buyers on the platform.
“We were fortunate to have a massive amount of support from Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE), which ran an Emerging Exporters Program in conjunction with Shell QGC,” she said. “Through TSBE, if they didn’t have the answer, they had the contacts.”
This was how Four Daughters came across the Queensland Food & Beverage Export Catalogue. This resource continues to aid brand awareness for the business.
“There’s so much happening in the world of exporting, so knowing our business is in the catalogue makes a big difference and interested eyes from across the world can make contact – and it’s amazing where you do get people contacting you from,” Penfold said.
Prior to COVID-19, Four Daughters’ own branded Premium Black Angus product hit the market in China, leading to further trials in Singapore and Hong Kong before releasing a Four Daughters Premium Angus Burger. These burgers are currently being trialled in Singapore and the UAE with plans for expansion into new global markets.
“Export-ready is a big statement and I don’t know if you ever believe you really are export-ready,” Penfold said. “You do all you can to be prepared, and until you dive, you don’t know if you’re ready to go. Building a strong network has been invaluable.”
The Lime Caviar Company
A unique Australian native citrus, finger limes grow exclusively in rainforest areas from Byron Bay up to Noosa. Used by Indigenous Australians as an essential food additive before it was introduced to the Mediterranean regions in around 300 BC, the finger lime has a rich history. And The Lime Caviar Company is exporting it as a gourmet product.
“Inside the skin of each finger lime are these beautiful little round pearls that look like caviar and they are full of delicious lime juice. When you bite on them, they pop and burst in your mouth,” The Lime Caviar Company co-owner Ian Douglas said.
Originally producing fresh finger limes for distribution in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE, the business sought to export more widely. However, fruit fly barriers imposed in most countries prevent finger lime growers from doing this. Additionally, the picking season for finger limes only spans a few months, and once picked have a limited two to three weeks shelf life.
The Lime Caviar Company’s solution was to develop a process that carefully extracts the finger lime pearls from the skin, which are then packaged and quick-freezed. This ensured the “finger lime caviar” would be available year-round, retain a long shelf life, and exported to new global markets.
“We launched the product onto the world market to about 14 countries just before COVID-19 set in, and the immediate reaction was that chefs all around Australia started using the product,” Douglas said.
“During the COVID-19 period, we continued to export it to half of those countries, and now that markets are opening up we hope it attracts great demand again.”
To encourage this growth, Trade and Investment Queensland drew the Douglas’ attention to the Queensland Food & Beverage Export Catalogue. The catalogue is helping The Lime Caviar Company to educate a global industry on Australian finger limes as a commodity.
If your business is export-ready, register for free in the Queensland Food & Beverage Export Catalogue at www.fial.com.au/queensland.