FOOD AND BEVERAGE DRIVING AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING
Australia’s $126 billion food, beverage and grocery sectors’ value to Australian manufacturing has increased by over 30 per cent in seven years (2007-08 to 2014-15) according to research released today by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC).
AFGC Director of Economics, Ms Tanya Barden said that the policy paper compiled by EY, underlines the importance of Australia’s largest manufacturing sector, food and grocery which represented 30 per of total Australian manufacturing in 2014-15.
“This report underlines the value of the Australian food and grocery sector at a time when other manufacturing is moving offshore and being buffeted by internal and external economic pressures,” said Ms Barden.
“Employing over 300,000 Australians’ the sector’s Industry Value Add of $29 billion was almost three times higher than the next largest manufacturing subsector – machinery and equipment and fabricated metal.
“Importantly this report shows that Australia’s $126bn food and grocery industry is likely to play an increasingly important role in Australia’s future manufacturing base as traditional manufacturing areas of strength like the car sector moves off shore, and increased export demand for our food and grocery products increase,” said Ms Barden.
Mr Andrew Metcalfe AO, Federal Government Lead Partner, Agribusiness Lead Partner at EY said that “analysis conducted by EY has found that in Australia’s reputation as a producer of clean and green products remains a key international advantage and combined with rising global demand for food gives Australia a great opportunity to drive jobs and investment growth for the future.”
“As traditional manufacturing subsectors such as car manufacturing and transport equipment have experienced decline, this has generated opportunities for food and grocery providers to create new jobs and growth is anticipated to continue,” said Mr Metcalfe
“While domestic conditions remain challenging, food and grocery processing is an area of strong export growth with an 11% surge in food and beverage exports to $26bn last year. These results show a huge potential for future growth,” said Ms Barden.
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AFGC Media Contact: James Mathews 0407 416 002