From the AFR:
As a national debate rages over state aid for foreign car makers, paper recycling magnate Anthony Pratt is proposing a radical shift in industry policy: switch support to food manufacturing.
The executive chairman of paper giant Visy believes Australia’s abundance of land, educated workforce and food production skills can help local companies develop new markets across Asia. He says subsidies to car makers, which mostly go to Ford, Toyota and General Motors, are a misguided attempt to prop up an industry in which Australia has no special advantages.
“We think food is a natural fit for Australia, unlike the car industry,” he said on a visit to Visy’s paper mill in Tumut in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains this week.
“We don’t have a competitive advantage in making cars, we do in food. Particularly in food safety. I really think because of our proximity to China [we have that advantage].
“We are only $10 per tonne away from Asia, everyone else is $100, in terms of transport costs.
…
About 70 per cent of Visy’s customers are in the food and beverage sector and contribute much of its $4 billion in annual revenue.
Be that as it may, if we have such an edge in processed food, why does it need subsidy and why has it not grown in six years?
I’d very much love to see food manufacturing take off and lowering the dollar as soon as possible is the way to do it.
