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Market snapshot reveals success of SA food industry

ft28-p14-1The South Australian food industry continues to grow in the face of ongoing drought and a rising Australian dollar. Despite ongoing drought,the performance of the South Australian finished food industry is a shining star, according to PIRSA's Senior Market Analyst,Matthew Palmer.

"South Australian finished food exports have nearly doubled in the last 10 years, with meat and seafood leading the way." Matthew said.

While there have been challenges in terms of drought and a rising Australian dollar,on the whole the South Australian food industry is proving resilient. South Australia currently produces food that contributes to $8,029 billion of net food revenue in SA, with food imports lifting the state's gross food revenue to $9,985 billion.

Nationally, South Australia accounts for around 10% of Australia's gross food revenue. According to data sourced from the PIRSA Food Scorecard, primary production has experienced a mixed bag of results over the last five years.

Primary production value has risen across the livestock, dairy and horticulture sectors, while the total value of seafood production has seen a recent decrease due to a decline in value of some seafood exports. Field crop production value continues to vary substantially with seasonal conditions.

"In South Australia's foodmarkets, growth has occurred across the retail, service and interstate sectors. While overseas finished food exports remain less than the peak in 2002, they have increased each of the last two years," Matthew said.

He said a higher Australian dollar has played a major role in limiting export growth. In other market summary highlights:

  • There has been a steady growth in the SA domesticmarket, but an increasing proportion of imported products. The largest growth has been in the horticulture sector, followed by livestock,field crops and dairy.
  • Interstate exports have been a fast-growing sector of the South Australian food industry. Growth has occurred across a range of sectors including horticulture, livestock and seafood.
  • Japan is South Australia's largest food export market, taking products from all sectors. South Australia accounts for nearly 50% of Australia's seafood exports to Japan. USA is a large and growing market for South Australian exporters.

Matthew said in terms of exports, Australian Bureau of Statistics international trade data shows that the meat sector really stood out.

"Meat exports have grown to become South Australia's largest value finished food export product. In 2006/07, meat exports grew to $542 million. SA seafood exports have also grown substantially from 10 years ago," he said.

While SA seafood exports had fallen from a year peak of more than $450 million in 2001/02, they had remained steady at just over $300 million a year for the past three years.

Matthew said that SA horticulture exports had shown modest growth over recent years, along with finished fieldcrop products, while dairy exports had remained steady.

"Overall, the industry has performed really well despite the challenges it has been thrown," he said.

The report which is available on the SA Food Centre website is the first for the new PIRSA Market Intelligence Unit which has been established to assist South Australian food businesses gain access to the latest market intelligence.

Want more info?
Contact
Matthew Palmer, PIRSA Agriculture, Food and Wine.
p +61 8 8226 1919
e palmer.matthew@saugov.sa.gov.au