FIAL invites export-ready Australian food and beverage suppliers to attend an exclusive online business matching event with key buyers from China.
The event is a unique opportunity to meet one-to-one, online, in virtual meeting rooms, with qualified buyers representing major supermarket chains, convenience stores, e-commerce platforms distributors, food service, importers and more across China.
Businesses must be registered to FIAL’s Australian Food & Beverage Catalogue (AFBC) to be eligible to participate. Registration to the AFBC is free.
Registering with FIAL’s AFBC
To be eligible to participate in this and future Virtual Meet the Buyer events hosted by FIAL, you must be an export-ready company, registered on FIAL’s Australian Food & Beverage Catalogue (AFBC) platform.
Suppliers registered on the platform already will have received a reactivation email. If you have any questions, e-mail events@fial.com.au
New businesses can set up AFBC profiles here. (Note that your business’s products must have market access to China; otherwise your registration will be deemed invalid.)
Completing your EOI and registering for the event
Once you’re an official AFBC supplier, you can complete your Expression of Interest (EOI). To do so, simply click on the ‘EOI’ button on the right-hand side of the Events page on the AFBC website, and your EOI will be registered.
Register to this event via the AFBC.
EOIs from export-ready agrifood businesses close Friday 22 April 2022.
Securing appointments
Your details will be registered and sent to the relevant buyer for review and if selected, you will be notified of any appointment(s) prior to the event.
Note that completing an EOI does not guarantee meetings with potential buyers in China – selection will be at the buyers’ discretion, based on AFBC company profiles and accompanying listed product ranges.
Each successful applicant will receive a link to join a private and secure virtual meeting room for a 20-minute discussion with any buyer who’s expressed interest in discussing potential business.
According to FIAL, their buyers in China are particularly interested in health-related food and beverage products, innovative foods and first-to-market products (see below).
Industry feedback suggests that increased freight cost and supply-chain delays are ongoing sector concerns; hence, FIAL will coordinate consolidation, cost of freight and documentation support for samples for interested suppliers.
Ticketing information
Registration costs $75 per applicant, incl GST. Note that the registration fee is payable only if meetings are secured. The fee is capped at $75 if you secure at least one appointment.
Further information
For more information about the event, click here.
What is the opportunity?
Consumers in tier-one Chinese cities have shown a high level of demand for foreign food and beverage products. Consumer demand for foreign food and beverage products is also strong in less saturated tier-two and tier-three markets. Food and beverage products considered to be safe, and healthy, and that incorporate local taste preferences, are most popular among Chinese consumers.
Although Australia’s food exports to China fell 8.3 per cent to $US7.1 billion ($9.6 billion) in 2020 compared with the previous year, demand for safe food products and higher-protein diets is expected to increase among China’s middle class as disposable incomes rise.
From 1 January 2019, Australian trade to China benefited from tariff reductions under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, ChAFTA, giving many Australian processed food products an import duty advantage of up to 25 per cent.
In-demand products with buyers from China are healthy and innovative foods in the following product categories:
- health supplements
- baby food
- snacks
- confectionery: candy, biscuits, chocolate
- dairy products: butter, UHT, yoghurt, cheese, milk powders
- grocery items: cereals, juice, oats, honey, baking/baked goods, smallgoods, cereals
- innovative and new-to-market foods
- chilled and frozen meat and seafood
- non-alcoholic beverages: functional drinks, health drinks.