Austrade shows off the taste of Australia
Over 140 Australian exhibitors are set to attend Asia’s biggest food industry event, Food and Hotel Asia 2010, this month.
The Austrade-organised National Pavilion will showcase the finest Australian flavours and produce for top Asian buyers and importers, as part of Austrade’s strategy to boost food and beverage exports to South East Asia.
The lineup will include wine exporter Inland Trading, gluten-free Rowie’s Cakes, organic meat supplier Australian Organic Meat, Queensland’s Rice Cube, sustainable seafood from Cleanseas, the Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Company, fine-food retailer Jones the Grocer and truffle supplier Manjimup Truffles, plus more producers from around Australia.
“The South East Asian markets are some of Australia’s closest and most significant export markets. In 2007-08, Australian food exports to the ASEAN member countries was worth over $4.3 billion – nearly five times that of [exports to] China at $928 million,” said Austrade’s Regional Director for ASEAN, South Asia and the Pacific, David Twine.
“The region’s growing middle class, with their increasing affluence and cosmopolitan tastes, has created diverse and expanding opportunities for Australian businesses.”
Austrade’s Manila-based Team Leader for Food & Beverages to ASEAN, Ross Bray, said that Australian speciality foods were increasingly sought after across ASEAN.
“Singapore is where the rest of ASEAN looks for the latest trends in food consumption. Australian chocolates, cheeses, meat, seafood and more recently, organic and gluten-free products, have built on the remarkable success of our wines into Singapore, and other ASEAN countries are now catching on,” he said.
“Last year, Australian-inspired restaurants, Double Bay and Barossa, were established in Singapore, and have been quite successful.”
To expand the reach of the Australian pavilion at FHA, Austrade will also be bringing buyers from further afield in Asia, including interested parties from China and India.
