Page 17 - Food & Drink magazine June 2021

to give Australian food and grocery manufacturing the strength to maintain its traditions of excellence and the competitiveness to supply domestic markets while growing new ones abroad. The ambition of achieving high sector growth is now more urgent, given the need to ensure resilience in our domestic manufacturing capability, as well as to ensure sustained economic growth following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, high growth won’t happen organically.
Without intervention and a strategic approach, there is a real risk that the current trend of offshoring manufacturing and importing increasing levels of high value-added food and grocery products could continue to the point where consumers will struggle to find high value-added products that are made in Australia.
Ourreportidentifieswhat
“ With a strategic focus, the right policies and incentives, the size of Australia’s food and grocery sector can double to $250 billion by 2030, with a resulting 54 per cent increase in employment to 427,000 people.”
it will take to set our sector on
a high growth path that will deliver increased jobs, skills and economic output with flow-on benefits across the economy, including to Australia’s agriculture sector.
Among the recommendations made are the establishment
of a new grants program to support the uptake of advanced manufacturing technologies, the development of new, sustainable packaging formats and equipment, and the creation of a high-tech training centre to give workers the skills to use advanced manufacturing equipment and emerging digital technologies. Without smart manufacturingandincreased
automation, we will not keep up with global competitors.
With a strategic focus, the right policies and incentives, the size of Australia’s food and grocery sector can double to $250 billion by 2030, with a resulting 54 per cent increase in employment to 427,000 people.
Australian food and grocery manufacturing is strong, dynamic and critically important but there are important decisions that need to be made now about the sector’s future.
The Sustaining Australia: Food and Grocery Manufacturing 2030 report is available on the Australian Food and Grocery Councilwebsite. ✷
LEFT & ABOVE: SPC has been manufacturing Australian produce for more than 100 years.
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www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | June 2021 | Food&Drink business | 17