Page 40 - Food&Drink Business magazine September 2022

FOOD EXPORT
Global berries
After launching several new products earlier this year, supplement and health food company Amazonia is poised for rapid growth. Pippa Haupt writes.
RECOGNISED throughout Australia for its acai berry products, Amazonia is going global off the back of launching its new research and
development centre. Named the ‘Innovation
Hub’, the 1450 square metre site is set to become Amazonia’s worldwide
headquarters, where it plans to expand its range and global footprint.
Founder Dwayne Martens says the hub was a dream come true.
Knowledge hub strengthens wine exports
Austrade has partnered with Wine Australia to develop a comprehensive digital knowledge hub to help wine producers grow their international sales.
THE Wine Export Ready Hub brings together information, templates, and how-to guides to help wine producers understand the export process, find buyers and develop export plans.
Austrade CEO Xavier Simonet says the industry-first free digital hub will fuel Australia’s wine exporters to go further, faster.
“Australia produces some of the world’s most sought-after wines, and the new Wine Export Ready Hub will help our producers get more product to
consumers the world-over,” Simonet says.
Australia produces around four per cent of the world’s wine and is the fifth largest wine exporter.
It is home to more than 6000 grape growers and 2000 wineries. More than 1000 exporters send 18,000 different wines to over 100 destinations worldwide.
“This one-stop-shop, developed by Austrade and Wine Australia, will provide clear, comprehensive answers to wine producers’ most pertinent export questions,” Simonet says.
EXPORTS EQUAL PROFITS
Wine Australia CEO Dr Martin Cole says, “With around 60 per cent of Australia’s wine production exported each year, the profitability of the wine sector is strongly linked with exports.
“Many wine producers are
developing strategies to intensify exports and to enter new markets, and we’re delighted to launch the Wine Export Ready Hub in partnership with Austrade to support these activities.”
The Export Ready Hub complements Austrade and Wine Australia’s existing suite of export resources including market insights, market entry programs and regulatory services, as well as a virtual
platform to showcase Australian wines to international buyers, Australian Wine Connect.
While Australia’s wine producers faced challenging trading conditions in recent years, the values of wine exports grew in 71 destinations in the year to March 2022, according to Wine Australia’s Export Report. This includes Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. ✷
“It's a beautiful little
Australia, and currently has
40 | Food&Drink business | September 2022 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au
innovation place; we have an R&D lab where we can innovate quickly and provide both Amazonia and contract manufacturers with the latest health trends.
“We’re very, very versed in that space. I live and breathe it,” says Martens.
Martens says the focus is on providing more innovation to people that are looking more for organic, natural, health foods and supplements.
“We are very agile and nimble in our development, but the hub will allow us to develop specifically to our export partners needs.
“We are also manufacturing now, which ultimately gets more margin in the bottom line and allows us to be much more price competitive internationally,” he says.
Founded by Martens in 2008, Amazonia exports to several countries including South Korea, where it is the leading supplier of plant-based supplements.
The company is also the largest supplier of frozen acai berry in the United Arab Emirates, Europe, and
an established export relationship with government agency Austrade.
“We are very much aligned with Austrade, having worked with them to find export opportunities.
“We also have partners that are already established in the UAE, southern Europe, South Korea and New Zealand,”
says Martens.
Amazonia is looking to grow its market in New Zealand and Southeast Asia, and more comprehensively expand into the Asian market next year.
Other goals include doubling business in already established markets and even tripling its UAE business.
Martens says, “We are currently in the planning phase, but we are developing some key products for the Asian market and we hope to see several of our products launched in the country mid-next year.
“The big hairy audacious goal is to lead plant protein and whole food nutrients type supplements in a powdered version into those regions.” ✷