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19 September 2023
Western Australian agrifood export eNews
Funding is available for Western Australian innovators to host supporting events during the Asia-Pacific region's premier technology event, AgriFutures evokeAG 2024, which is set to attract delegates from around the nation and the world to WA.
The WA Government is offering funding of up to $10,000 to support a range of complementary side events, including trade shows, investment forums, workshops, roundtables and site tours. The additional events are an opportunity to showcase WA products, services, innovations and regional strengths, as well as explore opportunities and solutions to global agrifood and beverage supply chain challenges.
evokeAG 2024 is partnering with the state government to host the two-day event, themed 'Exceptional Edge', which attracts more than 1,600 delegates from 20 countries. Technology is integral to modern food and beverage supply chains, including autonomous vehicles, remote sensors and monitoring, digital traceability, online marketing, big data analysis and decarbonisation.
Leaders in food, technology and sustainability from around the globe will feature on the evokeAG 2024 program to address some of the world's most pressing challenges, including feeding the world, climate change and resource management. Commercial businesses, food and beverage processors and manufacturers, universities, consultants, researchers, start-ups, grower groups, industry associations and others are encouraged to apply for funding support to build on the evokeAG 2024 experience.
For more information and to complete an expression of interest, please visit the evokeAG website. More...
Source: WA Government | Photo: evokeAG
Australian seafood is a key beneficiary of the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (A-UKFTA) which entered into force on 31 May 2023.
The A-UKFTA eliminated tariffs on many Australian seafood products at entry into force, including finfish and rock lobster. Remaining seafood tariffs will be phased out and eliminated completely by 1 January 2026.
The agreement provides Australian seafood exporters with improved access to the UK’s seafood market, worth US$4.5 billion in 2021. Given that Australian seafood exports are dominated by high unit value products, the removal of tariffs under the A-UKFTA will make Australian seafood more competitive in the UK retail market. Between 2019 and 2021, prior to the A-UKFTA entering into force, the average import price for Australian finfish was US$17.06/kg compared to an average of US$5.68/kg. This price also reflects the increased air freight costs with Australia’s geographical distance from the UK. More...
Source: Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry | Photo: DPIRD [Western Rock Lobster]
The volume and value of Australian wine exports have declined in the past 5 years, according to Wine Australia's latest market bulletin. This mirrors the trend in the global wine market over the same period, which has declined by an average of 2% per year in volume since 2017.
The downward trend in global consumption is driven by commercial/value price segments (below US$10 per bottle retail), while premium price segments are still growing, although at lower growth rates than in recent years.
WA Wines to the World, an industry-led export program jointly funded by industry, Wines of Western Australia and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, aims to substantially increase the premium wine exported. The program focuses on high-value consumers in existing markets (US and UK) and emerging markets (SE Asia, Japan and Korea).
Research from Wine Intelligence on 7 key wine export markets (United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and India) showed almost 200 million people are regular wine drinkers across those markets. Of these, 100 million are aware of Australian wine, but only 42 million drink Australian wine. While Wine Australia says, this suggests an untapped pool of almost 160 million people who currently drink but do not drink Australian wine. Encouraging this group of consumers will be crucial to growing sales of Western Australian wine in the future. More...
Source: Wine Australia / Wines of Western Australia | Photo: Rikkia Hughes / Unsplash
Beef markets around the world – other than the United States – are seeing softer consumer demand, with global cattle prices now split into two distinct groups: those in North America and Europe, and those in the rest of the world, Rabobank says in its just-released Q3 Global Beef Quarterly. After falling for most of the year, Australian cattle prices had levelled out in mid-June, the report said.
Report lead author, Rabobank senior animal protein analyst Angus Gidley-Baird, said the market had seen heavy steer prices rise towards the end of July before dropping again. For Australia, export data for July shows beef export volumes up 30% year-on-year, according to the report.
Western Australia exports only one third of the beef produced, with the other two thirds being consumed domestically. More...
Source: Rabobank / DPIRD | Photo: DPIRD
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned of the high cost of global economic fragmentation, in which growing trade restrictions may reverse economic integration and undermine the cooperation needed to protect against new shocks and address global challenges.
While estimates of the cost of fragmentation vary, greater international trade restrictions could reduce global economic output by as much as 7% over the long term, or about US$7.4 trillion in today’s dollars. That’s equivalent to the combined size of the French and German economies, and three times sub-Saharan Africa’s annual output. This calls for a more deliberate and intentional approach to global cooperation in a shock-prone world, the IMF says.
In recent times, new trade barriers introduced annually have nearly tripled since 2019 to almost 3,000 last year, with these restrictions largely targeting goods and services. Other forms of fragmentation including technological decoupling, disrupted capital flows, and migration restriction will also be responsible for raising costs.
Governments can contribute to an economic environment that supports informed and well-functioning markets that adjust to structural changes. Australia’s strong economic institutions and economic frameworks – for example its flexible exchange rate, independent monetary policy and responsible fiscal management – provide important buffers against future shocks. Export diversification is a key goal of Australia in working towards achieving greater economic resilience. Australia has 18 free trade agreements, with several still under negotiation and consideration. The elimination of trade barriers under these agreements will promote greater trade security and resilience. More...
Source: IMF / Australian Treasury | Photo: Venti Views / Unsplash
Further information
Agribusiness, commercial fishing and aquaculture news from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD). If you have any questions or information to share, please email export@dpird.wa.gov.au.
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Important disclaimer
The Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and the State of Western Australia accept no liability whatsoever by reason of negligence or otherwise arising from the use or release of this information or any part of it.
Copyright © State of Western Australia (Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development), 2023.
