Page 10 - Packaging News Magazine May-June 2018

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NEWS www.packagingnews.com.au May-June 2018
Visy’s vision to double Aussie food exports
In his keynote address at The Australian’s Global Food Forum in Sydney in March, executive chairman of packaging giant Visy, Anthony Pratt, said an FTA with the UK is a key step in growing Australian food exports. Lindy Hughson reports.
NTHONY Pratt is putting his money where his mouth is, announcing that the Pratt Foundation has made a $500k donation as founding patron of the Australian/UK leadership di- alogue, which will work to promote a free trade agreement with the fo-
cus on Australian food exports. Visy and The Pratt Foundation have been supporters of The Australian’s Global Food Forum since its inception in 2013, with the aim of starting a national conversation about
how to double Australia’s food exports. Pratt said that since 2013, food exports have increased from $31 billion to $42 bil- lion in 2017, a 35 per cent increase, and in that same time, iron ore exports have de- clined from $69 billion to $63 billion... thus the now familiar phrase ‘moving from
a mining boom to a dining boom’.
“We set out to double export value by ex- porting more high value food to Asia’s three billion people coming into the mid-
dle class.”
He shared a graph that showed that since
the conversation started in 2013, Austra- lia’s exports of high value horticulture, like fruit and vegetables, and further pro- cessed food, like packaged meat, have grown from $17 billion to $28 billion, while its exports of bulk commodities, like wheat, grain and live cattle, have stayed at around $8 billion.
VALUE-ADD FOR GROWTH
The growth lies in exporting value-added products, Pratt emphasised.
“We value add in two ways: by selling more added value horticulture, like man- goes, and, secondly, by taking our farm products and processing them into further processed added value food like infant for- mula and beef cuts, processed and pack- aged right here in Australia which creates manufacturing jobs right here rather than exporting the jobs to other countries. And that’s why our slogan is, ‘Export food, not jobs’,” Pratt said.
“For when you sell wheat as wheat, you get $200 a tonne for it; if you turn it into flour, you get $500 a tonne for it; and if you turn it into bread, you get $5000 a tonne. And this applies to products like snap -fro- zen vegetables or table-ready meals.”
There are few countries with the food safety record of Australia... [we have] a great opportunity to feed
He went on to note that one of Austra- lia’s biggest selling points is the safety of our food.
“There are very few countries with the food safety record of Australia, especial- ly if you consider incidents like the melamine in milk scandal that killed Chinese children.
“Our safe brand ensures that the high value exports like Australian infant for- mula will boom in China no matter how many cows we ship there.
“Australia has a great opportunity to feed a hungry world. We have a small pop- ulation in Australia and huge resources so export is key. As Steve Jobo said recently, ‘More than half of last year’s GDP growth in Australia came from exports’.
“Free trade agreements are valuable and our FTAs from Japan and Korea doubled exports of sugar and confectionery, fruit and nuts and vegetables here,” he said.
“We should have a free trade agreement with Great Britain, especially now that it’s coming out of the EU.”
Pratt argued that Australia and Britain had a great trading relationship for about 100 years, but this waned in 1972 when Britain joined the European Union and that was almost the end of our food exports to Britain.
“I’m so convinced of this that The Pratt Foundation is donating half a million dol- lars as founding patron of the Australian/ UK leadership dialogue, which will work to promote a free trade agreement with the focus on Australian food exports.”
This donation complements the $500,000 given to the Indonesia study centre that Pratt Foundation established, also to sup- port a favourable FTA with Indonesia.
Pratt said that when it comes to growing exports, there is no room for complacency as other low cost producers are eyeing the same global growth markets.
“The facts of modern business mean that our farmers and food processors will need to fully grasp and exploit the latest innova- tions to remain competitive and to overcome traditional barriers to food growth.” ■
LEFT: Anthony Pratt, executive chairman of Visy, addresses the Global Food Forum.
THE AUSTRALIAN
a hungry world.”