Page 5 - Food&Drink Business magazine June 2022

NEWS
More than words needed
IF food manufacturing is the national priority many say it is, a coordinated approach across jurisdictions, policies and incentives needs to be developed, Mondelez International president ANZ/Japan Darren O’Brien told this year’s Global Food Forum audience.
War in Ukraine, inflationary pressures, and food supply shortages are putting immense pressure on manufacturing, O’Brien said.
“The latest inflation numbers we saw – 5.1 per cent – I suspect we’ll see that pushing up towards double digits over the next couple of quarters. If the Reserve Bank continued to pursue it two to three per cent range for inflation – and using interest rates is a very blunt way to address that – you’ll slam the brakes on the economy,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien touched on the lack of policies and incentives to address workforce and skills shortages in the agricultural sector, giving the example of the dairy farmers Mondelez works with in Tasmania to produce Cadbury chocolate.
“There are 46 dairy farmers in Tasmania who provide 130 million litres of milk a year for Cadbury chocolate. Their average age is 70,” he said.
“If we do want to be a highly successful food bowl domestically and for export, we’ve also got to make sure we have people who are willing and incentivised to work in the agricultural sector.
“We get ideas, many of them well intentioned, policiesthatarefloated,whetheritbeonthe
manufacturing side or potentially agriculture or other incentives, but there isn’t a coordinated approach. There isn’t an end-to-end view,” he said.
He gave the example of labelling requirements and how the lack of coordination between authorities and regulators causes great expense for businesses, money that could otherwise go towards modern manufacturing, investments, plant equipment, innovation, and advertising.
“We have to stop talking about food manufacturing vendor priority and actually say, what does it take to win? What are the policy settings? What is the end-to-end view that we need to have and how do we make sure that lots of individual well intentioned policies or frameworks can be joined up to provide an efficient mechanism for us to be able to grow, be effective,andsustainable?” ✷
Maggie Beer set to offload dairy business
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MAGGIE Beer Holdings looks set to offload dairy assets Paris Creek Farms and St David Dairy, with the two accounting for more than half the financial
impacts of covid, flood events, and Ukraine war on the business.
The total impact is expected to be $4.2 million, with the dairy assets accounting for roughly
$2.8 million of that, the company said. The dairy assets were significantly impacted by Covid, with skill shortages, staff churn, and increased training, milk haulage, and distribution costs.
An internal review determined the two dairy businesses were non-core assets.
St David Dairy was impacted financially in H2 FY22 from skills and labour shortages causing the loss of some customers due to supply and delivery issues. Its general manager also recently resigned, with company chair Reg Weine stepping in for the short term.
Meanwhile, the launch of Paris Creek Farms branded milk was delayed due to flooding in New South Wales and Queensland. It reached 200 stores in June and hopes to reach 400 by September.
The company said it was exploring all options and would update the market when it deliversitsfullyearresults. ✷
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | June 2022 | Food&Drink business | 5