About the Food and Beverage Information Project

• What is the purpose of the food and beverage information project?
• What information is being provided?
• What are the key themes to emerge from these reports?
• What benefit will this bring for businesses?
• What will government use the reports for?
• Has the food and beverage industry been involved? 

What is the purpose of the food and beverage information project?

The project pulls together all the available information on the food and beverage industry into one place, in a form which is familiar and useful to business. The reports contain analysis and interpretation of trends and opportunities to materially assist with business strategy and government policy.

The in-depth reports provide a snapshot of the industry, its strengths, opportunities and problems, as seen by the industry itself. The information will be of vital use to businesses, investors, government, and research institutions as the industry expands and diversifies. This industry view will be very useful to government, enabling better dialogue and the opportunity to address issues collectively.

The Project will continue for the next five years, with annual updates and additional material. Reviewing performance over time will provide important feedback to both business and government about where and how we are winning in international markets. Each year two sectors will be assessed in depth, including interviews and commentary from industry leaders. The first two in-depth sectors are Seafood, and Nutraceuticals and Foods for Health.

What information is being provided?

Ten reports have been released on www.foodandbeverage.govt.nz:

• Sector stream:

  • Beverages
  • Processed Foods
  • Meat
  • Dairy
  • Produce (fruit, vegetables)

• In depth Sector Stream:

  • Seafood (includes aquaculture)
  • Nutraceuticals and Foods for health

• Markets Stream:

  • Global (measures and benchmarks New Zealand’s food and beverage performance across key global regions and countries; it also paints a picture of the path forward)

• Singapore (in-depth look at the Singapore market)

• An Investor’s Guide to the New Zealand Food & Beverage Industry 2011

The structure of each sector is described, including employment, numbers of enterprises, growth rates, turnover of key firms, short profiles of key firms, industry ownership (listed, private, co-operative, foreign), recent transactions (e.g. mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures), recent investments in new plant, profitability of key firms benchmarked internationally and performance in export markets.

A database of New Zealand’s food and beverage companies will be accessible on www.foodandbeverage.govt.nz. Further reports on specific overseas markets will be added over the next few months.

What are the key themes to emerge from these reports?

Processed foods

• New Zealand’s processed foods industry has developed rapidly over the last decade driven particularly by expansion into the Australian market. Growth in this sector is driven by a large number of mid-sized New Zealand firms and significant investment by multi-nationals, indicating that New Zealand has a competitive advantage in processed foods.
• Exports of infant formula have grown from US$27 million in 2000 to US$476 million in 2010, a stunning ten year compound annual growth rate of 34%.

Growth in the Asia-Pacific market

• New Zealand is transitioning from feeding westerners to feeding the people of the Asia-Pacific. Asia now takes 40% of all our food and beverage exports, while the UK only takes 5%.
• Significant growth is possible and has been achieved in selected categories, and driven largely by demand in the Asia-Pacific. New Zealand has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capture substantial market share and grow with the Asian middle classes.

Emerging opportunities

• The New Zealand Government has set a target of tripling the country’s food and beverage exports over the next 15 years.
• New Zealand is a young country still discovering its comparative advantages as new industries continue to emerge – in the past twenty years New Zealand wine, honey, aquaculture and avocados have all emerged from almost nothing into world leading sectors.

Growth in current markets

• New Zealand is developing a strong position in beverages in Australia and Asia. For example with a 9% compound annual growth rate over the last decade and US$58 million in exports, spirits are an emerging opportunity.
• New Zealand is rated internationally as one of the most sustainable wild fisheries in the world, but industry comment shows that we could do a lot more to use this fact to obtain a premium in the market.

What benefit will this bring for businesses?

The Project will have many uses for businesses. These include:

• As a base of market intelligence to enable business to be much more targeted in their own market research
• Reviewing and informing offshore market development (including export and investment) strategies
• Assisting in identifying areas of innovation and R&D for the future
• Identifying strategic partners and collaborators
• Enabling a company to benchmark performance with that of its competitors
• Monitoring industry activity
• Gaining a better understanding of their own industry sector
• Identifying internal capability needs or external inputs

What will government use the reports for?

This information will provide much greater insight into the industry, which is useful in a range of policy development, from regulatory frameworks to investment in science and skills and facilitating access to international markets. In particular, a single source of factual information will enable government agencies to better coordinate their efforts across the system and be more responsive to addressing industry issues.

Has the food and beverage industry been involved?

An advisory board of industry leaders and other stakeholders have provided input into the project, and a wider set of industry leaders have been provided drafts for review and comments. Feedback to date has been very positive.