❓ The McGowan Government outlines its support for the WA meat processing sector, including investment grants, air freight assistance, and collaboration with industry and international partners to enhance export opportunities and value-adding within the state.
AnsweredQoN 2991Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) Does the McGowan Government have any plans to assist or enhance the capacity of the local meat processing sector to value-add within Western Australia to create processed products suitable for export? (2) If no to (1), why not? (3) Is the Government providing any assistance to support the production, marketing and export of Western Australian chilled and boxed meat products? (4) If yes to (3), what support is being provided? (5) If no to (3), why not?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
20 August 2020
Responded by
Minister for Agriculture and Food
Response time
9 days
Yes, since coming to Government we have put a firm focus on capturing greater value from our premium agricultural produce in Western Australia. Processing meat locally means more jobs in regional WA, and more money into local economies and communities.
We have seen a steady increase in the value of exported meat from WA over the last 10 years. For example, the volume of exports of WA sheep meat to Qatar in 2012 was 0.77 million kg with a value of $3.44 million increasing to 8.33 million kg in 2019 at a value of $77.6 million. Overall the total volume of exports of WA sheep meat has increased from 38.9 million kg in 2012 at a value of $161 million to 83.3 million kg in 2019 with a value of $597 million.
Examples of our support for local meat processing include:
As part of the McGowan Government’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan, I recently announced a new Value Add Investment Grants program as part of a wider $16.7 million Food and Beverage Fund designed to support agriculture, food and beverage businesses to undertake more value add processing in Western Australia. This new program will support projects that are located across Western Australia including the Perth metropolitan area.
The McGowan Government responded quickly to the impacts of COVID-19 on our meat exporters by providing $640,000 in air freight assistance during March, April and May. This funding enabled Linley Valley Pork, and a number of lamb and beef processors to maintain the export of chilled meat into Singapore and preserve our jobs and markets.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has strong working relationships with our WA Government Offices in international markets and provide support for in market programs and facilitate business to business engagement and inbound events to ensure WA is able to showcase our produce to the world.
DPIRD has partnered with industry associations such as Meat and Livestock Australia and Federal Government bodies such as Austrade to support agribusinesses in marketing product and building networks through major international events such as Gulfood or the upcoming CIIE (China International Import Export) event.
Recently, a number of Middle Eastern markets have eased shelf life restrictions for chilled meat products. For example, Kuwait has recently approved shelf life extension from 70 days to 120 days for beef and 90 days for sheep meat; Jordan has approved a temporary shelf life extension on beef from 90 to 120 days and continues to work on a permanent amendment; Qatar is in the final stage of amending beef shelf life to 120 days (with both beef and sheep meat currently granted 90 days); Saudi Arabia has disseminated a draft regulation to take red meat shelf life from a mandatory 70 days to being non-prescribed, meaning commercial entities can determine the expiry; and Egypt is working on a similar set of measures.
It is expected that Australia s red meat industry is anticipated to receive in excess of $100 million in additional returns as a result of shelf life restrictions being eased and these amendments have the potential to significantly increase the chilled meat offering at retail to consumers in the Middle East region from WA.
We have seen a steady increase in the value of exported meat from WA over the last 10 years. For example, the volume of exports of WA sheep meat to Qatar in 2012 was 0.77 million kg with a value of $3.44 million increasing to 8.33 million kg in 2019 at a value of $77.6 million. Overall the total volume of exports of WA sheep meat has increased from 38.9 million kg in 2012 at a value of $161 million to 83.3 million kg in 2019 with a value of $597 million.
Examples of our support for local meat processing include:
As part of the McGowan Government’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan, I recently announced a new Value Add Investment Grants program as part of a wider $16.7 million Food and Beverage Fund designed to support agriculture, food and beverage businesses to undertake more value add processing in Western Australia. This new program will support projects that are located across Western Australia including the Perth metropolitan area.
The McGowan Government responded quickly to the impacts of COVID-19 on our meat exporters by providing $640,000 in air freight assistance during March, April and May. This funding enabled Linley Valley Pork, and a number of lamb and beef processors to maintain the export of chilled meat into Singapore and preserve our jobs and markets.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has strong working relationships with our WA Government Offices in international markets and provide support for in market programs and facilitate business to business engagement and inbound events to ensure WA is able to showcase our produce to the world.
DPIRD has partnered with industry associations such as Meat and Livestock Australia and Federal Government bodies such as Austrade to support agribusinesses in marketing product and building networks through major international events such as Gulfood or the upcoming CIIE (China International Import Export) event.
Recently, a number of Middle Eastern markets have eased shelf life restrictions for chilled meat products. For example, Kuwait has recently approved shelf life extension from 70 days to 120 days for beef and 90 days for sheep meat; Jordan has approved a temporary shelf life extension on beef from 90 to 120 days and continues to work on a permanent amendment; Qatar is in the final stage of amending beef shelf life to 120 days (with both beef and sheep meat currently granted 90 days); Saudi Arabia has disseminated a draft regulation to take red meat shelf life from a mandatory 70 days to being non-prescribed, meaning commercial entities can determine the expiry; and Egypt is working on a similar set of measures.
It is expected that Australia s red meat industry is anticipated to receive in excess of $100 million in additional returns as a result of shelf life restrictions being eased and these amendments have the potential to significantly increase the chilled meat offering at retail to consumers in the Middle East region from WA.
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