This week, the Australian Food and Wine Collaboration Group - a coalition of five prominent agriculture industry bodies including Wine Australia - successfully conducted a series of trade development events in Taipei, Taiwan. These included a joint press conference, roundtable trade discussions, and trade- and sector-specific workshops conducted by Wine Australia, Meat & Livestock Australia, Hort Innovation, Dairy Australia and Seafood Industry Australia individually.
The proceedings concluded with the Taste the Wonders of Australia gala dinner, during which 110 representatives of Taiwan’s wine and food industry had the chance to experience some of Australia's best wines and produce.
“The masterclass was a fantastic opportunity to really educate people from the trade about Australia’s wine offering,” said Martin Cole, CEO of Wine Australia.
“Australia has 65 wine growing regions and more than 100 grape varieties - it’s a continent of wine, not just a country of wine - and there’s real interest in that diversity, especially from the younger generation of Taiwanese.”
The visit comes at a time of dwindling wine exports to the Taiwan market, with volumes decreasing 8.2% to 2.5 million litres, and value decreasing 2.1% to $24.6 million, in the year up to September. Despite this, the average value per litre increased by 6.7% over the same period to a worth of $9.68.
Martin Cole says this presents a diverse array of opportunities for Australian wine exporters.
“We are seeing real interest not just from the premium end, but from a range of other customers; the bistros, the mainstream supermarkets,” he said.
“There’s a new, younger generation of Taiwanese consumers who are willing to try a diverse range of wines. There are real opportunities for growth in this market.”
Taiwan is the fifth export market to be visited by the Australian Food and Wine Collaboration Group since it was founded in 2022, and follows on from similar export and trade development campaigns in Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea and Indonesia. In August last year, the Group was awarded a $600,000 Agricultural Trade and Market Access Cooperation (ATMAC) grant by the Federal Government to support its promotion of Australian food and wine in key export markets.
“The Albanese Government is supporting Australian producers to expand market access and new trade opportunities for Australian fresh produce,” said Murray Watt, who was the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry at the time.
"Australia is internationally renowned for its safe, sustainable, and premium food and wine, two thirds of which goes to markets abroad... This funding will help develop a common approach to positioning in our food and wine sectors to build on already strong demand."
Charlie McElhone, a spokesperson for the Australian Food and Wine Collaboration Group, added that “a Team Australia approach will help us leverage our collective strengths to advantage our exporters and build deeper relationships across all sectors in market.
“We want to position Australia as a key supplier, improve market access and demand for Australian food and wine exports," he continued.
"Taiwan will be targeted in a 6-month pilot and a similar approach will be adopted in other high-growth Asian markets.”
Moving forwards, the Australian Food and Wine Collaboration Group’s next market focus will be Japan, starting from next year.
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