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

State of the Industry 2011

The trade deficit of Australia’s $108 billion food and grocery manufacturing industry almost doubled over the past year, reflecting the intense economic pressures facing the sector, according to a new report by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and KPMG.

The Report found the industry’s international net trade deficit ballooned by 48.5 per cent from $1.8 billion in 2009-10 to $2.7 billion in 2010-11.

Officially launched today by Federal Agriculture Minister Senator Joe Ludwig in Canberra, the third annual economic snapshot of the food and grocery manufacturing industry State of the Industry 2011 confirmed last year’s findings that industry remained Australia’s largest manufacturing sector, employing more than 312,000 people, compared with 288,000 last year. Industry’s total annual turn-over also grew by more than 4 per cent to $108 billion.

AFGC Chief Executive Kate Carnell said the State of the Industry 2011 findings showed organic increases in both turnover and jobs, despite very difficult and challenging times.

Click here to download the report

Click here to download Appendix D

View the media release