Designed by Export Development Manager Dominic Jenkin, the service features a grower portal that enables the state’s producers to analyse WA’s production data, as well as a “Find a Supplier” tool that enables traders or retailers from anywhere to connect with Western Australian growers to fulfill their sourcing requirements.
Mr Jenkin says the service is designed to make it easier for growers and suppliers to manage their businesses and connect with one another. It was developed for six months last year before going live in November 2015.
“All growers have access to a portal where they can track production dynamics and market share, and it’s optional for them to list their business on the publicly visible “Find a Supplier” tool,” he says, adding that uptake for the service has been strong.
“To put things into perspective, the gross value of production in WA is approximately $350 million,” he says. “Growers that constitute a gross value of about $250 million have their businesses listed in the “Find a Supplier” tool.”
He says they are encouraging all growers to list their details through the “Find a Supplier” tool as a way to “improve the visibility of their businesses” and increase communication between WA growers and traders, both in Australia and overseas.
“The basis of the data [this service provides] is a monthly record of production, referenced by geo location and other indicators with product range, current export details, organic lines and more,” he says.
“We tried to make it hit all important points a trader is looking for but not be too complex, so it’s quite easy to navigate. There’s also a lot of information for growers, and we’ve really seen the benefit of that over the past few months.”
Growers using the service can track their market share, see where production is coming from across the state and observe variability in the volumes being produced in different areas.
“You can clearly see where a season begins and ends, so it gives growers an idea of competition and an opportunity to improve their production and market share by better positioning their products in the market and leveraging their competitive advantages,” Mr Jenkin says.
“It also opens up opportunities for growers to collaborate and streamline their supply by linking up with growers in different areas. So if they want to extend their season to their current customers, for example, they could do this by searching for counter-seasonal suppliers and forming collaborative partnerships.”
He says a major advantage to this service is that the product availability data in the “Find a Supplier” tool is updated on a monthly basis, making it current and also very different to other similar tools that may be offered in other states (or Australia-wide).
“We were helped in WA in the fact that there’s a state based fee-for-service that growers are required to pay, on a volume basis per month, so we were able to use the data set that came off the collection of the fee-for-service to gather information that’s not really attainable across country.”
Although the fee-for-service is a cost that some growers have questioned and challenged in the past, Mr Jenkin says this kind of innovation is proving its value in new ways.
“Through services such as this, where potentially every grower can get some value, we have found it’s very beneficial for the industry.”
State-wide growth and export opportunities
This new toolkit comes at a time when Western Australian growers have found themselves with greater volumes and reduced demand in the local market as a result of a decline in the mining sector (which affected the whole state).
“With the mining boom in WA, the industry was in growth mode for eight or so years, but what we’ve seen in the last year is thousands of jobs lost out of the economy here. That has reduced peoples income and in turn put pressure back onto fresh markets,” he says.
“People are spending less going out to restaurants and buying fresh food. What we’re seeing now is that this is impacting on growers as they now have additional produce, but the demand for it is not there.”
He says on the east coast of Australia, a bumper crop would be less of an issue as sending extra produce to another state – such as from Brisbane to Sydney or Sydney to Melbourne – is “maybe $1 difference” in terms of transport costs per carton. In contrast, it costs a lot more for WA growers to send their produce out of the state.
“With the Nullabor between us, sending produce to the east coast could cost as much as $5 a crate, so it’s not always easy or economical for growers to access these markets. What we’ve seen [as a result of this situation] is a hard hit for the sector in a number of key vegetable markets.”
Mr Jenkin says the new toolkit’s features can help growers find markets for their produce, particularly when it comes to exports.
“I think export is building up, WA leads the way in vegetable exports and there’s scope for more,” he says, adding that the toolkit gives suppliers and exporters an easy and fast way to find the produce they need.
“I’ve worked in markets and export before and found there are always deficiencies in trying to easily obtain new suppliers. There’s usually a long series of telephone calls in the middle to get through to the people who could have market leads,” he says.
“I wanted to make the process as direct as possible. So from the point of view of a trader, that’s the value of this service. They can go to the site, type in the product, choose the month they’re looking for, select organic and so on, and find growers that can supply produce with those characteristics – and get in contact with them directly.”
In that scenario, growers would then get and email or call from a buyer or trader, then build a business relationship that potentially opens up many new markets.
“I’ve been encouraging exporters as well as buyers within Australia to be aware of this tool as well, because it offers them so much value,” he says.
“If they’ve already identified a market gap or need, they can use the tool to make linkages with growers in WA to help meet the needs of that market or markets.”
Mr Jenkin says the current focus for the toolkit is to get it out to as many people as possible, “from supermarkets overseas to corner shops just down the road in WA” so that it can benefit the whole industry.
For more information:
Dominic Jenkin
vegetablesWA
Tel: +61 8 9481 0834
Email: dominic.jenkin@vegetableswa.com.au
www.vegetableswa.com.au
http://vpc.vegetableswa.com.au/producers/findProducers