Cross-sector collaboration hits the mark in China for Australian food and wine
Dairy Australia, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and Wine Australia have been leading the way in promoting Australia’s strengths across food and agriculture this week, with a first-of-its-kind collaboration rolled out at the Australia Week in China 2016 business mission from 11-15 April.
The three national agricultural bodies have joined forces to promote a consistent, modern picture of Australian fine food and wine, as a demonstration of their commitment to work closely together in Australia’s largest market for food and agricultural exports.
Australia Week in China marks the first rollout of their jointly produced promotional messages and imagery, which were featured at a number of events across the week, capturing the essence of Australian food and wine for the new wave of cosmopolitan, sophisticated Chinese consumers, and drawing an enthusiastic response.
A video highlighting Australian landscapes, producers and premium food and wine will feature at today’s Premium Australia Lunch and Showcase in Shanghai, where the Minister for Trade and Investment, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP, will be the keynote speaker.
Dairy Australia, MLA and Wine Australia will have a unified presence at the premium product showcase, featuring BBQ demonstrations by an onsite chef, cheese tastings and wine tastings. The event, which caps off the week’s programmes, will be attended by up to 250 Australian delegates and 250 Chinese guests, representing local importers, distributors, e-commerce platforms and industry associations.
Dairy Australia Group Manager Trade & Industry Strategy Charles McElhone said the initiative had already received positive traction from key Chinese customers, importers and distributors who worked with the Australian dairy industry.
‘Initial feedback from some of our Chinese customers has indicated they are quite impressed and enthusiastic for this type of collaboration, so it will be exciting to see how far this can go,’ he said.
‘We believe this partnership can mark a new chapter for the way in which we drive fine Australian produce into key markets. We each have developed key relationships within China and other regions so to join together and harness these further, only sells a stronger proposition to our customers and gives us a great edge over our competitors.’
MLA General Manager, International Markets Michael Finucan said, ‘Having a consistently strong and appealing set of messages can help build a platform to allow Australian premium agricultural produce successfully differentiate itself from competitors, grow demand and preference for our produce in China. This will ultimately create more value for Australian producers and the whole Australian supply chain.
‘With many potential customers for Australian premium food and wine attending events throughout the week, the opportunity to showcase Australia’s produce has been vital. The feedback I have received from many of these customers to these messages has been extremely positive.’
Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark said, ‘As the food and wine culture in China continues to evolve, through this collaborative effort we will share the stories of Australia’s pure natural environments, our talented and passionate producers, and share our fine food and wine offering.
‘We want China’s sophisticated food and wine consumers to equate products of Australian provenance with the highest quality.’
The launch builds on detailed work, begun in 2015, to develop a coordinated approach to promoting Australian dairy, red meat and wine in China. It draws on common themes of quality and provenance and emphasises the links to the unique and diverse Australian environment, agricultural systems and people that differentiate the Australian offering from international competitors.
The industry-led project has been facilitated by Austrade, and ASA 100 (the Australia Sino One Hundred Year Agricultural and Food Safety Partnership) has expressed support for the program.
Following Australia Week in China, the group will evaluate the pilot and develop a plan to expand on this collaboration in the Chinese market, with a view to potentially taking the learnings into other key export markets for premium Australian food and wine.
About Dairy Australia
Dairy Australia is the national services body for the Australian dairy industry. Our role is to help farmers adapt to a changing operating environment, and achieve a profitable, sustainable dairy industry.
Dairy Australia acts as the collective investment arm of the industry, investing in essential research, development, extension and industry services which can’t be done efficiently by individual farmers or companies.
Our annual funding is a combination of the Dairy Services Levy paid by farmers based on milk production, as well as government and leveraged funds.
About Meat and Livestock Australia
Meat & Livestock Australia Limited (MLA) delivers marketing and research and development services for Australia's cattle, sheep and goat producers, creating opportunities from their combined investments to build demand and productivity across the supply chain. Most of MLA's funding comes from transaction levies placed on the sale of livestock, with the Australian Government providing matched funding for levy investment in most R&D.
About Wine Australia
Wine Australia supports a competitive wine sector by investing in research, development and extension (RD&E), growing domestic and international markets and protecting the reputation of Australian wine.
Wine Australia is funded by grape growers and winemakers through levies and user-pays charges and the Australian Government, which provides matching funding for RD&E investments.
Wine Australia is the trading name of the Australian Grape and Wine Authority, a Commonwealth statutory authority established under the Australian Grape and Wine Authority Act 2013.