“The opportunity to add significant value domestically,to both supply the domestic market and also to export value-added food rather than commodities,is quite high,” Allison says.
“There’s $300 billion in opportunity for growth.”
Mirjana Prica,the managing director of Food Innovation Australia (FIAL),said “smiles” about commodity prices were “short-lived”.Grain prices have skyrocketed as Russia’s war on Ukraine constricts global wheat supply. However,Prica pointed out export goods like grains or meat are easily substituted by the same product from another country.
“When you differentiate and put special features onto your product,that’s not easily substitutable and therefore you can command a premium for that,a slight margin,” she said. “And that margin is what we need to capture more of in Australia.”
The closer the raw material is to the facilities where it is processed and manufactured,the better,according to Allison,who is also the president of the Agribusiness Association of Australia.