Vouchers valued up to $10,000 are now available for eligible and competitive Western Australian food and beverage manufacturers to engage a consultant or technical expert to help grow their business.

The program supports food and beverage manufacturers (in regional WA and Perth metropolitan area) to help overcome potential barriers to growth, reduce risks around planned expenditure and capture new opportunities for expansion.

This round of vouchers also supports primary producers looking to transition to manufacturing to take steps towards producing value-added food and beverages.

Businesses are able to undertake business planning, quality assurance, market positioning, e-commerce planning, technology and digital, export capability development, technical expertise, planning for investment or transitioning to manufacturing activities with the vouchers. Eligible businesses may apply for up to three vouchers, from different categories in this round.

Eligible businesses are required to match the voucher funding dollar-for-dollar and must provide a written quotation from a business consultant or technical expert for the work the business intends to undertake.

Applications close 5pm (AWST) Friday 11 December 2020.  More information about the program, including eligibility criteria, is available online, alternatively call 08 9780 6165 or email foodindustryinnovation@dpird.wa.gov.au.  More...  Source:  DPIRD  |  Related: Vouchers to help food businesses access experts  Source:  WA Minister for Agriculture & Food  |  Photo:  DPIRD [Launch of second round of Voucher Program. L-R: DPIRD Food Industry Innovation Project Manager, Kim Antonio; Garry Capelli; WA Agriculture & Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan; Leanne Rodgers, owner of the Lake House Denmark, and Vinofoods and WineSpa brands with Garry Capelli.]

The Western Australian Government’s employment priority remains focused on securing employment for WA residents first. However, even with an increased intake of local workers, the likelihood of worker shortages being experienced across primary industry remains high.

To help navigate the immediate shortfall, a team has been created dedicated to support WA primary industries specifically on workforce matters during these challenging times.

Led by DPIRD’s Industry Capacity and Workforce Manager, Jackie Jarvis, the role of this team is to:

• provide advice and assistance to primary industry G2G PASS applicants;
• review primary industries applications and provide industry-based advice to WA Police assessment officers;
• administer the Primary Industries Workers Regional Travel and Accommodation Support Scheme;
• collaborate with the WA Department of Premier and Cabinet and Tourism WA on an updated Work and Wander out Yonder Campaign;
• work with industry on the potential progression of a pilot restart of the Seasonal Worker Program and Pacific Labour Scheme;
• work collaboratively with industries on innovative approaches to build a more resilient local workforce into the future.

The workforce development response team can be contacted via email at workforce@dpird.wa.gov.au.   Further information on the initiatives can be found on DPIRD’s website.  More...  Source & Photo:  DPIRD

The Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) and the Australian grains industry value their strong relationship with the Indonesian wheat flour milling, baking, noodle and confectionary industries.  And in a technical webinar at 9am AWST on 5 November 2020, an update will be provided on the value and quality of Australian wheat destined for Indonesia.

AEGIC’s Cereal Quality and Product Experts have specialised knowledge of Australian wheat quality for end-products. Their scientists have worked in collaboration with key Indonesian flour millers developing a greater understanding of Australian wheat quality and grades and their use to meet the requirement of Indonesia end uses.

In the webinar, the following topics will be covered: Australian crop production and supply by Jane Wardle, CBH Grain; Australian wheat quality for the Indonesian market, by Dr Larisa Cato, Wheat Quality and Technical Markets Manager, AEGIC; and Breeding wheat for the Indonesian market, by Dr Dan Mullan, National Wheat Breeder, INTERGRAIN.  More...  Source:  AEGIC / Austrade  |  Photo/Graphic:  AEGIC / DPIRD

The Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology will be hosting a face-to-face event on high pressure processing (HPP) technology on 24 November 2020 at 5.30pm AWST.

HPP allows fruit, vegetable and seafood producers to extend their reach into export markets, particularly important at this time when air freight capacity has been reduced due to COVID-19.

Held at the Centre for Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation in Nedlands, the event will feature three key speakers:

• Dr Janet Howieson, a food science lecturer and researcher at Curtin University, who will discuss HPP with WA seafood and horticulture products.
• Jennie Franceschi, who has spent all her working life in the Australian fresh produce industry, will consider lessons learnt from HPP processing, and plans for the future.
• Paul Mews, a qualified Certified Practising Accountant with over 25 years’ experience in the accounting and commercial finance sector, and has also worked in investment attraction for the previous WA Department of Agriculture.  

More...  Source:  AIFST  |  Photo:  hiperbaric.com

South Korea's issues with food and energy security make Australia's export profile almost perfect for the country's growth and economic development, says University of New South Wales JW Nevile Fellow in Economics, Tim Harcourt.

"In terms of international cooperation, Asia and the world, South Korea and Australia could be called 'Seoul' mates - together we founded the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and also the G20," Professor Harcourt said.

"We also have the Korea-Australia free trade agreement, signed in 2014, that allows 98% of Australian goods, particularly in agriculture, to go into South Korea tariff-free.

"There are over 2500 Australian companies already doing business in South Korean in agriculture, mining and professional services, so a lot of those companies are going to be switched on in Seoul in the future."  

South Korea was Western Australia's third largest destination for agricultural exports in 2019-20, worth $573.1 million or 7% of total agricultural exports for that year.   The State's most valuable export to South Korea in 2019-20 was wheat, worth $417.5 million (73% of total agricultural exports to Korea), followed by cereal straw, hay and chaff worth $46.6 million (8%) and beef worth $26.6 million (5%).

South Korea is WA's largest market for wheat, followed by China and the Philippines, accounting for 15% of the total value of wheat exported in 2019-20.  More...  Source:  Tim Harcourt / Kate Pritchett, DPIRD |  Photo:  Yohan Cho / Unsplash

Asialink Business, in collaboration with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), will host an online panel discussion on how the best companies implement successful business models to succeed in Asian markets.

The free webinar, on 11 November 2020 at 10.30am AWST, will present insights from fresh evidence-based analysis, as part of the landmark new thought leadership report – Winning in Asia: Creating long-term value. 

Developed in partnership with Asialink Business, CBA, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and The Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation, the report unpacks some of the commonly held misconceptions on doing business with the region.  More...  Source & Graphic:  Asialink Business

Demand for Australian wine around the world has seen growth in value to all top-five export markets and a 4% increase in overall value to $2.998 billion, according to Wine Australia’s latest Export Report released this week.

In the 12 months ended September 2020, the average value of Australian wine exports increased by 4% to $3.89 per litre, matching the growth of overall value. The volume of exports declined slightly by 0.4% to 771 million litres (85.7 million cases).

Wine Australia Chief Executive Officer Andreas Clark said the overall value is at the highest level since exports reached $3 billion in the second half of calendar year 2007.

"Despite the unprecedented disruption that we’ve seen in markets around the world, Australian wine export volume has held reasonably steady and it is particularly pleasing to see both the overall value and the average value of exports growing during these challenging times', Mr Clark said.

For the 12 months to the end of September 2020, the growth in value was predominantly driven by exports to the United Kingdom and mainland China.  And that growth has been particularly strong in the last quarter of the 12-month period.  More...  Source:  Wine Australia  |  Related:  Australia's wine exports top $3 billion as trade with China grows  Source:  ABC News  |  Photo:  DPIRD

China's total imports in August 2020 were down just 2% compared with last year, according to the World Trade Organisation's latest global trade statistics.  

And as world markets began to re-open in August and demand Chinese goods, China saw the only increase in merchandise exports, registering a 9% year-on-year increase that month.

Agri banking specialist Rabobank reports in its latest Agribusiness Monthly Update November 2020 that while demand for fresh produce has generally remained resilient in Australia's key horticulture import markets, China's imports of Australian fresh produce to the year July 2020 flatlined, although is expected to return to growth in 2021.

Rabobank says beneath the gloomy global headlines, in most key markets for Australian agrifood products, COVID-19 infections are falling and retail sales are rising.  More...  Source:  WTO / Rabobank  |  Graphic:  WTO