AFGC
Report highlights opportunities in food and beverage sector The latest industry report from the AFGC looks at the state of Australia’s largest manufacturing sector. Geoffrey Annison, acting CEO of the AFGC, explains.
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espite strong domestic and global economic, political and social headwinds, Australia’s food, beverage and grocery manufacturing sector remains resilient. It is a key national employer, a trade powerhouse and contributes billions to the national economy. The Australian Food and Grocery Council’s latest annual industry snapshot, State of the Industry Report 2019, highlights where the strengths of the industry lie, identifying the greatest opportunities for growth, and reinforcing the ongoing challenge of staying competitive in a country with high costs and low margins. Areas of focus include: • Industry turnover.
• Employment. • International trade. • Capital investment. The report found the sector injected $122.1bn into the economy in 2017-18, with 4.5 per cent real growth largely due to increased exports totalling $34.4bn. Food product manufacturing was the largest sub-sector, with a turnover of $90.1 billion. The major sources of production were meat processing, cheese and other dairy manufacturing, and human pharmaceutical and medicinal products. Jobs are central to the success of the Australian economy and the food the grocery manufacturing sector is Australia’s largest manufacturing sector, representing 32 per cent of
all manufacturing jobs. It is also one of the biggest employers in the country, providing more than 273,300 jobs, of which 39.3 per cent – just over 107,000 – are in regional and rural communities. Regional and rural communities rely on the sector not just through direct employment, but also because of the multiplier effect it has in boosting and sustaining local economies. This filters right along the supply chain through the sector’s sourcing of not only agricultural inputs but also other goods and services used in food and grocery production. Similar to employment, the number of businesses in the Australian food and grocery sector increased by 1.4 per cent year-on-
year to 15,325, driven largely by the growth of the business count in the grocery sector. New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland are the dominant states, together constituting 85.3 per cent of sector turnover and 79.9 per cent of sector employment. Australian food and grocery exports increased by 7.6 per cent over 2017-18, led by a 45.3 per cent increase in Chinese exports. This comes off the back of the ChinaAustralia Free Trade Agreement and the opportunities it has unlocked. It has also been spurred on by a favourable exchange rate and the great reputation of Australia’s food and grocery products. Growth in imports was much lower at 3.3 per cent year-on-year,
Australian food and grocery exports increased by 7.6 per cent.
42 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au
