Dubai: Despite already accounting for an oversized portion of Australia’s food exports, the state of Victoria has its sights set on increasing sales to the Middle East, as it seeks to decrease its reliance on Asia.
Nearly 30 per cent of all Australian exports in 2017 went to China, with a further 12 per cent to Japan and 6 per cent to Korea. In fact, north-east Asia makes up 65 per cent of Australia’s exports,
“Australia has a huge reliance into north Asia through China, so it’s very important for me to ensure that we have other regions to sell in to,” Philip Dalidakis, Victoria’s Minister for Trade and Investment, told Gulf News on Sunday in an interview.
Referencing his previous career in business, Dalidakis said he was simply hedging his bets, and ensuring that Victoria could offset any potential decline in other destination markets.
“Absolutely [we’re just hedging]. I came from the private sector before I entered public office. That’s exactly what a good private sector strategy should do. You don’t want one customer to have too much power in the relationship,” he said.
Despite pursuing this position, Dalidakis remained bullish on Victoria’s export prospects to Asia.
“The growth of the sales into China is huge and very strong at the moment, with no foreseeable change. But we want to make sure that we’re diversifying our customer base,” he added.
While only representing 3 per cent of Australia’s total land mass, Victoria accounts for 26 per cent of national GDP, according to the minister.
The state accounts for 24.3 per cent of Australia’s total exported goods, and is the country’s largest supplier of premium food and fibre products — accounting for around 25 per cent of Victoria’s total goods and services exports in 2014-15.
Dalidakis said that the Middle East was becoming an increasingly important export market for Victoria, and presented “huge opportunities” for the state.
Focusing on the rise of halal certification in the region, Victoria’s Middle East trade commissioner John Butler was confident in the state’s ability to compete.
“We have very strong certification in halal. We’re world famous for that. We are the leader in that,” Butler said.
Expanding on Victoria’s halal-friendly credentials, Dalidakis added: “There is a focus of course in the Middle East [on halal]. But the most populous Islamic country in the world is Indonesia.”
Indonesia is home to over 180 million Muslims, and receives nearly $6.5 billion [Dh23.87 billion] in Victorian produce each year. It is the state’s 12th largest export destination.
“So that cultural awareness and understanding... We’re very proud of that, and that, of course, assists us in exporting to the world as well,” Dalidakis said.
