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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-13 Daily Xml
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International Trade

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:29): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Can the minister update the house on how the government's international trade offices are supporting South Australian businesses to export their products into key markets?

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON (Morphett—Minister for Trade and Investment) (14:29): I thank the member for MacKillop, and of course we are always looking to help the regions, especially those in your electorate of MacKillop. One of those ways is connecting them to the world to be able to export and doing that via opening up new trade offices.

Those trade offices are a key way of connecting businesses to these keys markets. They will drive two-way trade and also introduce investments. When they do that, they provide on-the-ground support in those markets and introductions to key importers and distributors as well. There are opportunities now coming out of the US, our second biggest market in terms of exports. We recognised that and immediately worked towards setting up a trade office in Houston back in March 2020.

That was right when COVID was starting to work its way through the globe and travel was restricted, but that did not stop Regina Johnson, the business development manager, looking for opportunities. In June, she recognised one opportunity with the premium grocery retailer in Houston, Central Market. There are 10 of those grocery stores in Texas. Their target customers have an average salary of around $100,000 and they are looking for premium and unique products that aren't for sale in standard retail stores in Texas.

South Australia has premium iconic brands. She recognised a great opportunity and asked Central Market if that was of interest to them and they said yes. Of course, the problem then was how to connect this grocery chain in Texas to South Australia. The innovative virtual pitch sessions provided an opportunity. The Department of Trade and Investment, in conjunction with Food SA, went about connecting with both food and beverage companies in South Australia and asking whether they would be interested.

Pleasingly, 19 South Australian companies recognised this opportunity. We worked through fine-tuning their pitch before presenting it to Central Market between August and October 2020. This was still during the pandemic, and it was done virtually. During these pitch sessions, Central Market said, yes, there were a lot of unique products and premium brands in South Australia and then asked for samples to be sent over from 15 of these companies. That was organised and done through our trade office in Houston.

Those samples were looked at and tasted, and the pleasing thing is that nine South Australian companies were given contracts to send produce over to the United States. This is fantastic news. They are all iconic brands that all of us here in parliament will know: Pure Origins honey, Bickfords, Olsson's salt, Beerenberg, T BAR fine tea, Currawong olive oil, Penfield olives, Robern Menz and also Tucker's Natural.

Just recently, I went down to Outer Harbor to see 21,000 of these units put on a container. I was joined by Sam Tucker—he is also at the Glenelg Lifesaving Club—who is a fantastic local businessperson. He said this was a great opportunity. This gets them in there, gives them the opportunity to be placed on shelf space in a premium location and could potentially open them up to many more retailers in Texas. This is just one way that the Marshall Liberal government is backing business and helping them grow through exports.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the member for Reynell, I warn the member for Wright for a second time and I call to order the leader. I remind members on both my left and on my right that a general higher level of enthusiasm should not be translating into interjection.

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