NSW food retailers set for a bumper Christmas

Media release | 19 December 2017

NSW food producers and retailers are set for bumper sales over the festive season as consumer demand increases for premium food products.

Minister for Trade and Industry Niall Blair said as shopper tastebuds become more sophisticated, the great reputation of NSW food is driving growth to new heights.

'It’s fantastic to see a company like Random Harvest Gourmet doubling its sales in the last quarter after exhibiting on the NSW Government stand at Fine Food Australia in September.

'The gourmet gifting brand sells gift packs and individual Australian-made products that make excellent festive season fare including confectionery, jams, chutneys, dressings and bruschetta.

'Random Harvest is also winning export customers in Singapore and Hong Kong who have placed orders across a range of products, demonstrating the growing appeal of quality NSW produce abroad.'

Random Harvest owner and managing director Matthew Jinks said the Caringbah-based company is enjoying strong orders in the lead-up to Christmas after Fine Food Australia, which promoted NSW produce nationally and to over 45 countries.

'We retail with the likes of Peters of Kensington, David Jones and Myer, and are looking to expand further into other premium food outlets,' Mr Jinks said.

'We exhibited our new hand-made confectionary range at Fine Food as well as a new balsamic dressing, which existing customers saw for the first time at the show and as a result placed a number of orders in the lead up to Christmas.

'It’s been fantastic to receive leads and orders from some of Australia’s most premium gourmet food stores, as that’s a target area for us.'

NSW has over 50,000 agricultural, aquaculture, fishing and food and beverage processing companies feeding a growing export industry worth over $7 billion a year.

The state’s exports of processed food and beverages grew 4.6% in 2016–17 to top $5 billion for the first time, according to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade data.

According to the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) Performance, Data and Insights 2016 report, the value of primary industries production hit a record high of $13.9 billion—a lift of 17% over the previous two years.

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