The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) statistics reveal that the market share of Australian food in the grocery manufacturing sector is significantly fuelled by 4%, which is almost $133 billion owing to the exponential spike in the value of the exports.
The latest state of industry report excerpts show that the spike in food and grocery exports is about 7.9 % on last financial year to $41.3 billion, which also reveals the crucial role of export markets to local manufacturers.
Tanya Barden mentions that the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the bushfires and droughts, the Australian food and grocery manufacturers well reveals their resourcefulness and resilience by spurring the sector’s total value, particularly in the overseas market.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the lockdowns scaled up the consumption of various supermarket channels in the local market segment. However, there is a slight decrease in sales via foodservice standards like convenience stores and restaurants.
As there is a positive turn in the sector, it overlaps the fact that businesses are holding more cost than ever owing to the several factors including the Covid-19 associated expenses like maintaining safe workplaces, operational modifications to satisfy surging demand, and overcoming the destruction caused in the supply chain. Also, the largely folding flight charges and increase in commodity & packaging prices also add up to the expenses.
The AFGC’s State of the Industry offers a detailed analysis of Australian food and grocery manufacturing performance. In addition, its latest edition highlights the industry dynamics in the initial stages of the Covid-19-related disruptions.
The key findings mentioned in the report include-
- A 7.9% spike in the export value, particularly from the food and grocery manufacturing sector, rounds up to $41.3 billion.
- Also, 12.1 percent up in the value of imports also wraps around $39.9 billion.
- The food and grocery share in Australian manufacturing swipe up from 0.4 % to 32%.
- In addition, there is a significant decline of about 0.2 % in overall industry employment, which makes up around 270801 people.
Barden emphasizes setting the right policy to promote investment activities in the Australian food and grocery manufacturing sector, which can help double the market’s value by 2030.
Important decisions need to be made to positively shape the trajectory of the Australian economy and strongly rebound from the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.