Export Performance

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. How is the state government assisting food and wine businesses to increase exports?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (14:55): I thank the member for Colton for his question. Of course, premium food and wine from our clean environment—

Mr van Holst Pellekaan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Stuart will rise in his place and withdraw and apologise forthwith.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: I apologise.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Minister.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: He didn't really mean it, sir; we get on pretty well, thank you, member for Stuart. Premium food and wine from our clean environment is one of our government's key economic priorities. It is now worth $18.2 billion a year, and it was terrific to hear the trade minister come into the house yesterday with the latest trade figures to show that wine exports were up $136 million, or 11 per cent, in the past year.

A lot of this has been off the back of the government working with the wine industry to make sure that we are out there working in a concerted and quite deliberate way to get South Australian wine into bottle shops and onto restaurant wine lists right around the world. Earlier this year, I led a wine delegation to China; we had 52 representatives from 25 wineries, and the program provided participants with an understanding of the China market and of delivering export trade opportunities.

One of the great things about it is to actually see the different wine organisations learning from each other while they are away because quite often you might work within your own association, whether you are from Coonawarra or McLaren Vale or the Riverland or wherever. It is interesting to be on these delegations and see how much people learn from each other, as well as learning about the whole China experience and that market. I have to say that it is a great collaborative approach, where you see one winery telling people to beware of the pitfalls that they may have suffered a year or two earlier.

One of the delegates who joined the mission and who has taken part in three other state government-led trade missions in the past year, including visits to the United States and South-East Asia, is Mr Mark Kozned from Nova Vita Wines in the Adelaide Hills. I am pleased to report that as a result of their participation in the state government's trade missions, Nova Vita has secured the following deals in the past year:

more than $140,000 worth of wine exports to the United States;

more than $56,000 worth of sales to Singapore and Thailand; and

more than $300,000 worth of wine exports to China.

In addition, Nova Vita is in discussions with a Chinese importer to supply more than 9,600 magnum bottles of premium sparkling wine for the Chinese wedding market by September 2016. This deal will be worth an estimated $180,000. So, it is terrific to see them going after not just a big, wide market but concentrating on that niche market as well.

These export deals demonstrate the high value our trade missions have in helping South Australian food and beverage companies establish and further develop relationships in key export markets. Since 2013, PIRSA has supported more than 100 trade missions, inbound and outbound, which have been of incredible value to our agriculture, food and fisheries businesses right across South Australia.

I want to thank the staff at PIRSA and thank all those people who have come on delegations in the past and who will come in the future. Later this month, I will be leading a delegation to Singapore, Malaysia and Bangkok and, again, it is about opening up new markets and going there en masse. We spoke to the Australian ambassador in Bangkok and he said that no other state has come into Thailand in the sort of organised and collaborative way that South Australia has. I think a lot of people deserve a lot of credit, within government and outside government, for making these trade missions work.