Bega to spread Vegemite joy

BEGA Cheese executive chairman Barry Irvin says the dairy and food group will ramp up efforts to introduce foreign tastebuds to the salty pleasures of Vegemite.

The group will also move to breathe life into its marketing effort to ensure Vegemite remains a pantry staple in modern, multicultural Australia, Mr Irvin says.

He spoke as Bega prepared to take control of Vegemite, with its $460 million deal to buy the spread from US food titan Mondelez due to be officially signed off last night.

The deal returns Vegemite to Australian ownership and hands Bega rights to a suite of other brands in Australia, including ZoOsh and Bonox, as well as a manufacturing plant in Port Melbourne.

Aussie expats have been able to get their Vegemite fix in popular destinations such as Britain but Mr Irvin said Bega, which exports to 40 countries, was keen to broaden the spread’s appeal by looking at new markets such as Asia.

“We are an exporting company that looks to take products into other markets,” he said.

“I don’t say we plan to convert the world to Vegemite but we have been successful in establishing the Bega brand in more than 40 countries and we aim to leverage those channels.”

Bega has sold two dairy plants and tapped shareholders for a $160 million capital injection to help fund the Mondelez deal.

It has been a bright spot in a depressed dairy industry with its share price up 15 per cent in the past year.

Earlier this month, it turned up the heat on Murray Goulburn Co-operative when it vowed to pay farmers almost 20 per cent more for milk.