Page 7 - Food & Drink Magazine October 2019

CSIRO says emerging food trends worth $25bn
real terms) compared to the food and agribusiness industry as a whole (2.4 per cent), but achieving these predictions will depend on continued investment and innovation.
Global consumer trends for sustainable, ethical
and healthy food products combined with growing demand from export markets buying into Australia’s reputation for clean and green products are driving growth, she said.
Demand from the Asia- Pacific is likely to underpin export growth. Food and agribusiness exports to China, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, India and Vietnam grew from 42 per cent of total food exports in 1997 to 57 per cent in 2017.
The opportunities and projected growth figures within wellness, sustainability and premium segments
vary due to trends in consumer preferences and/
or differences in industry maturity, the report said. ✷
Brancourts
Dairy goes into
administration
DAIRY company Brancourts has gone into administration due to current challenges being faced through a combination of high milk prices and the company’s inability to reflect these increased costs in its end products, its administrator PKF Australia said.
In a statement to Food & Drink Business, PKF said: “The sales and manufacturing arm of Brancourts has been put into voluntary administration. The business continues to trade with customers as the administrators assess formal restructuring options to place the business back on a sustainable footing.
We have also received a number of enquiries
from
interested
parties looking
to buy the
business as a
going concern
and are advancing those discussions.”
The dairy business employs more than 100 people. It has processing plants in Hexham, NSW, and Traralgon, Victoria and a head office in Sydney.
PKF says that while the business is still trading, 50 staff from the manufacturing team had been stood down.
The remaining staff are covering customer relations, logistics and reduced production activity to fulfil orders from available stock.
Brancourt Dairy continues to trade with customers, although production has been significantly wound back to the point of only final stage production.
The administrators are urgently pursuing options for a sale of the business as a going concern, as well as looking at formal restructuring options for the business.
PKF said it also intends to run an “efficient and transparent process” to see a “thorough and impartial investigation” on what decisions brought Brancourt Dairy to this position. ✷
NEWS
New CEO for SPC
SHEPPARTON Partners Collective has announced the appointment of Robert Giles as the CEO of SPC Ardmona, three months after buying the business from Coca-Cola Amatil for $40 million. Giles was previously chief commercial officer and has been with the business for almost two years.
He replaces managing director Reg Weine, who had been at SPC as managing director since May 2015.
The chair of Shepparton Partners Collective Hussein Rifai, said: “When we bought the business, we said we believe there is enormous opportunity to grow this iconic 100-year-old brand domestically and internationally. The appointment of Robert as CEO is an important step in facilitating this.
“Over the past few months we have worked and will continue to work with management to reduce the complexity in the business, improve the efficiency of working capital and inventory, build domestic and international channels, and review product innovation.
“Our intention is to utilise SPC’s full capacity by creating new, innovative products and explore new distribution channels.”
Giles said they have been focused on the “enormous task” of separating from Amatil. “At the same time, we have started several
Chair of Shepparton Partners Collective Hussein Rifai with new SPC Ardmona CEO Robert Giles.
important strategic projects, recruited the right team and commenced the process of opening new sales channels and new overseas markets and selling some of our excess stock.
“We are confident in our progress towards establishing the right business strategy and we are very positive about the future of this business. We are already working on some exciting initiatives as well as products and solutions that will appeal to a broader market at home and abroad.” ✷
KEY emerging food trends could be worth $25 billion by 2030 according to new analysis released by CSIRO.
Economists in the national science agency’s strategic advisory arm, CSIRO Futures, released an economic valuation on the opportunities it identified in its 2017 CSIRO Food and Agribusiness
Roadmap, including plant- based protein, foods for health and wellbeing and the growing circular economy.
CSIRO Futures senior economic adviser Dr Katherine Wynn found that health
and wellness, sustainable solutions, and premium segments will see higher growth (3.6 per cent a year, in
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