is Australia taking full advantage of the transformation of food and agricultural demand in South-East Asia?
Australia has secured a considerable stake in the fast-growing South-East Asian market for food and agricultural products. The 7.5 per cent share achieved in 1991 translated into A$1.5 billion in exports (and 10 per cent of our overall food and agricultural exports in that year). However, our performance has not been even across all commodity types and target markets. • While traditional exports such as wheat, sugar, beef and dairy products retain significant market shares, Australian participation in potentially lucrative South-East Asian markets for livestock feed, fish and fishery products and forestry products remains small (less than 4 per cent share). • From 1986 to 1991, the ASEAN5’s imports of processed foods grew by an average annual rate of 15.7 per cent to reach US$6.6 billion/A$8.5 billion. Despite its geographical proximity and ambitions to increase exports of processed foods, Australia’s share of this market fell from 10.5 to 9.4 per cent. A deeper issue is whether Austra
