Processed Asian Foods in Australia – An update

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In addition, Australia has developed a small but strong production base for Asian specialty mushrooms including shitake, wood ears and enoki. While the major focus for these products to date has been the ‘fresh markets’, further processing of these products should be further evaluated considering the strong growth in demand for imports of these Asian specialty mushrooms. 8.3 Import and export trends The strong growth in market demand is largely serviced by a strong and continuing dependence upon imports from Asian countries, particularly China. On a volume and value basis the major growth categories for processed Asian food are: • Asian noodles – Asian style • Asian sauces other than soy sauce • mixed condiments, seasonings • processed fish balls, fish cakes and fish mince products • sugar confectionery • processed fish balls, fish cakes and fish mince products • Asian speciality mushrooms Between 2005 and 2007 these products were imported into Australia at an average annual growth rate of between 13% and 44% pa by value. The average unit prices of these imports also increased, which is indicative of the strong market growth and demand for these imports. Exports of processed Asian foods from Australia are small and the industry survey indicated that any future growth in domestic manufacturing in Australia shall have limited impact upon levels of import penetration. 8.4 Critical success factors for manufacturing of processed Asian foods in Australia The competitive advantage of manufacturing in the world’s food processing industry is a function of the availability and cost effectiveness of a number of key economic factors (ABARE 2009). These include: • raw agricultural inputs • operating inputs such as labour, packaging and marketing • transport and distribution services • capital and technology in the form of manufacturing and distribution facilities. Based upon these factors, ABARE (2009) indicate that there is no reason to expect that countries that produce the raw agricultural inputs alone will also have a comparative advantage to produce processed foods from these agricultural products. There is substantial scope to produce processed foods in such countries as Australia. Food manufacturing groups in this study confirmed the importance of these factors but highlighted the importance of three critical success factors: a. Critical Success Factor 1 - Is the target market a growth opportunity today and tomorrow? This provides the engine of growth for business plans to achieve their minimum plant volumes and to minimise risks for capital investment. b. Critical Success Factor 2 - What is the sustainable competitive advantage for the investment? This enables organisations to differentiate their products and services in the market and provide a competitive advantage over imported products. 82
c. Critical Success Factor 3 – Which part of the supply chain has the relative market power? It is not enough to understand the supply chain and the value added by different members of the chain. The control of supply (and demand) reflects the relative market power of the supply chain members that can result in a significant competitive advantage. In respect to these critical success factors, it is apparent that the local manufacturing industry has responded effectively to the emergence of market opportunities for processed Asian foods, especially in the area of fresh and semi-perishable foods. Larger scale MNC’s such as Masterfoods, McCormicks, Cerebos Foods and Sanitarium Health Food Company are well-established to capitalise on the market opportunities with Australian supermarkets. Similarly, a large number of SME’s are well-placed to service the local needs of Asian retail supermarkets. Therefore it would appear that there has not been any market failure for the manufacture of processed Asian foods in Australia. 8.5 Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) RD&E in the processed food industry aims to improve productivity by increasing output, reducing costs or improving product quality. For the market opportunities identified above, RD&E investment should be prioritised for: a. Market research Health, nutrition and convenience issues should be investigated for all the major consumer groups identified in this study. b. Nutritional RD&E Research should be directed towards understanding and quantifying the nutritional properties of processed Asian foods manufactured in Australia. Many Asian foods which are endemic to Australia have not been the subject of research for nutritional profiling. These include noodles, sauces, soy food products, processed Asian vegetables and processed Asian mushrooms. Such research can support potential nutrition and health claims for processed Asian foods. c. Technology Investigation of Australian food technologies to create longer-life and shelf-stable packaging will provide a benefit for locally sourced and manufactured products. Such technologies may include modified gas packaging, freeze-drying and post pack pasteurisation. However it is noted that the same technologies are also providing imported processed Asian foods with ‘extended shelf-life’ benefits and thus are able to compete with the local supply of fresh or semi-perishable processed Asian foods. 8.6 Industry communications The market is broad and diverse and the industry is widespread and fragmented. Due to the disparate interests and strong cultural backgrounds in the industry, many of the businesses operate independent of other industry groups. Communications are often only within business and cultural networks. As many business proprietors have a LOTE background, communications with the industry as a whole may be difficult. In this respect, Asian business community and cultural groups can play an important communication channel to businesses in the industry ranging from growers and producers through to processors and retailers. In addition, Asian radio and newsprint media also represent a valuable resource. Use of internet and website information is used widely by larger business groups but less so for small enterprises. As has been seen in the Asian vegetables industry, the challenge for the industry is the co-ordination of potential issues which may require a whole-of-industry response. These issues may include: 83
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Processed Asian Foods in Australia
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© 2009 Rural Industries Research a
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Acknowledgments The author of this
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Contents Foreword .................
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Figures Figure 5.1 Overseas-born po
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Tables Table 4.1 Five Major Trends
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Executive Summary What the report i
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1. Introduction Asian foods are enj
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4. Consumer trends 4.1 Today’s co
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Plate 4.3 A range of ‘antioxidant
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5. Australian market demand 5.1 Wha
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Figure 5.2 Overseas-born population
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5.6 Group 4: Asian tourist consumer
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6. Profile of major imported Asian
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Figure 6.2 Instant and ramen noodle
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Figure 6.4 Instant and ramen noodle
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Figure 6.6 Asian style noodles impo
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Figure 6.8 Asian style noodles impo
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Figure 6.9 Soy sauce import volumes
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d. Import values Table 6.7 and Figu
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Figure 6.13 Other Asian style sauce
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Plate 6.6 Asian marinades and paste
Page 47 and 48: Figure 6.17 Mixed condiments and se
Page 49 and 50: Figure 6.19 Soups and broths import
Page 51 and 52: Table 6.12 Soups and broths annual
Page 53 and 54: Figure 6.23 Sugar confectionery imp
Page 55 and 56: Table 6.14 Sugar confectionery annu
Page 57 and 58: Figure 6.28 Processed fish balls, f
Page 59 and 60: Figure 6.30 Processed fish balls, f
Page 61 and 62: c. Import volumes Table 6.17 and Fi
Page 63 and 64: f. Historical trends Since 2002, th
Page 65 and 66: Table 6.19 Seaweed annual import vo
Page 67 and 68: 2003 to A$13/kg in 2007. In additio
Page 69 and 70: Figure 6.40 Asian specialty mushroo
Page 71 and 72: Plate 6.11 Jelly fungus b. Countrie
Page 73 and 74: Table 6.24 Jelly fungus annual impo
Page 79 and 80: Figure 6.49 Bamboo shoots import va
Page 81 and 82: Figure 6.51 Bamboo shoots annual im
Page 83 and 84: The data in Table 6.29 emphasises t
Page 85 and 86: Plate 7.1 An example of fresh Asian
Page 87 and 88: eported that a range of fresh ‘st
Page 89 and 90: Health and well-being Processed Asi
Page 91 and 92: 7.5 Manufacturers of processed Asia
Page 93 and 94: Integrity and branding The growth a
Page 95 and 96: Opportunities for the Australian pr
Page 97: • soy food products • beverages
Page 101 and 102: 9. Implications The outlook for pro
Page 103 and 104: 11. References AUSVEG (2007). Proce
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Processed Asian Foods in Australia – An update

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