Far North aiming to double export market in decade
AN ambitious plan to double the Far North’s high-value food export industry’s worth to $120 million in the next decade has been unveiled by peak industry lobby group Advance Cairns.
China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia have been identified as growth opportunities for tree crops, aquaculture, beef and vegetable exports.
A new report by KPMG Australia suggests the current export market is operating at a fraction of its potential, something Advance Cairns executive chairman Nick Trompf was eager to turn around.
He said taking advantage of the COVID crisis to disrupt long-established southern supply chains and shift the way farmers sell produce could be a major positive to come from the pandemic.
“One of the barriers to the opportunity not being unlocked so far is the complexity in exporting. It’s actually quite hard,” he said.
“So, for a lot of farmers, it’s too complex and they don’t bother. This report recommends ways forward to try to reduce that complexity.
“The thing that will drive (producers) in the end is mitigating risk and potentially, in time, for a premium product earning more money.
“We have got to find a way to disrupt that and the world’s biggest disrupter has just happened in terms of COVID-19.”
Mr Trompf said key to unlocking lucrative Asian markets was collaboration and the forging of direct relationships with buyers, producing topshelf products and creating a Far Northern provenance.
Australian Mangoes executive officer Robert Gray agreed opportunity could come from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Certainly consumers are interested in the provenance of the food they are eating as a result of COVID which has major benefits for Australian grown-product and resonates with international customers that are more interested in where their product comes from. And Australia is certainly seen as a high value, high quality supplier of mangoes and COVID will be reinforcing that message,” he said.
Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia chairwoman Sheriden Morris said the report was designed to establish North
Queensland as a dominant exporter into Asia.
“At the moment we tend to go into the market and out of the market and that’s why the southern states are getting their access much better than we are here,” she said.
However, owner of MG