Media Release: Ag in the Asian Century continues to be a hot topic

Many business leaders attended Ag in the Asian Century National Export and Innovation Conference in Brisbane last week.

The conference, facilitated by TSBE Food Leaders Australia (FLA), focused on export and innovation opportunities in the Australian agriculture and agribusiness sector designed to capture Asian Century prospects.

Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport’s Acting General Manager Robert Kasch was a keynote speaker at the conference and spoke about how the airport enables international trade.

“It was exciting to be involved in this year’s Ag in the Asian Century,” said Mr Kasch.

“The growing middle class in Asia represents an opportunity of great magnitude and the Australian agriculture industry need to be prepared to exploit this opportunity to its fullest advantage.”

“Ag in the Asian Century conference covered many aspects of what it takes to succeed including ecommerce, future trends and logistics for businesses people looking to grow their penetration of Asian markets,” said Mr Kasch.

Demand from Asian consumers for high-quality Australian food is continuing to grow, as China remains the top purchaser of Australian produce.

Australia beef exports to China has increased, with other meats doubling their export capacity and this demand is set to exponentially increase.

In the coming decades, Asia’s demand for food will double as consumer preferences evolve to desire high quality, safe and reliable food from trusted sources, with Asia's middle-class population growing six-fold to 3.5 billion.

“Changing our mindset on how we do business is the only way we will accelerate growth in the Australian food industry,” said Mirjana Prica Managing Director of FIAL.

Our Asian neighbour’s consumption of dairy, fruit and vegetables, beef, grain and wine is going to skyrocket.

Their demand for fresh food and drinks will drive food producing, manufacturing and value-added businesses to deliver these products with added nutrition and health benefits.

Bruce McConnel, General Manager of TSBE FLA said, “Australia is in a unique position to deliver high value, socially responsible food to the growing affluent consumer base within Asia.”

“The conference enabled participants to discuss opportunities and understand what trends they could capture in the future,” said Mr McConnel.