The food and grocery manufacturing sector pays wages and salaries of $13.56 billion.
The industry’s workforce accounts for about 3 per cent of the population.
The food and grocery manufacturing industry consists of 30,104 businesses.
The industry provides around 24 million nutritious, affordable meals to Australians every day.
312,000 Australians are employed in the food, beverage and manufacturing industries, including half in rural and regional areas.
Australia’s $108 billion food and grocery manufacturing industry is the nation’s largest manufacturing sector.
Industry spends on average 0.5 per cent of turn-over on R&D – about $368 million a year.

Media Centre

Fresh call for a Supermarket Ombudsman

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:26

The latest discounting of fresh produce by Coles is another reason why the Federal Government should appoint a Supermarket Ombudsman to enforce a Supermarket Fair Trading Code of Conduct, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) urged today.

Coles has announced it will discount a range of fruit and vegetable items by as much of 50 per cent.

AFGC Chief Executive Kate Carnell said it was concerning that the latest fresh produce price cuts were not being driven by supply chain competition or lower costs of production.

“If these current ‘price wars’ continue, the profitability of Australia’s food manufacturing sector, as well as farmers, will be eroded and the result could be a significant loss of both processors and producers,” Ms Carnell said.

“We’ve already seen the impacts of price discounting on food and grocery manufacturing – this latest move will obviously impact small producers and spells danger for manufacturing, jobs and regional communities.”

Ms Carnell said this once again highlights the need for a regulated Supermarket Fair Trading Code of Conduct enforced by a Supermarket Ombudsman to create a more level playing field for primary producers and manufacturers in their dealing with Coles and Woolworths.

This important measure has been outlined in AFGC’s 2012-13 Federal Budget submission.

Ms Carnell said: “Australia and New Zealand has the highest levels of supermarket concentration in the world, delivering significant market power to major supermarkets and making it increasingly difficult for suppliers to negotiate reasonable trading terms and compete with the growing levels of private label products.

Over recent months, hundreds of job cuts have been announced due to the intense pressures facing the food and grocery sector.

“Australians and our political leaders overwhelmingly want a local, value-adding food and grocery manufacturing sector – it’s Australia’s largest manufacturing industry that we can’t live without,” Ms Carnell said.

-ENDS-

More information: Brad Watts AFGC Director Media and Corporate Affairs 0437 379 818.