By Melissa Blewitt

The CBH Group has signed a deal to ship 30,000 tonnes of Australian malting barley to Heineken, Mexico.

This is a significant new market for the cereal grain and the Australian farmers who produce it.

Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management David Littleproud and Minister for Trade, Tourism, and Investment Dan Tehan said Mexico was a great market for Australian producers.

“We should all be doing a Mexican wave for the CBH Group and Australian grain growers,” he explained.

“Mexico has a population of 127 million people and a strong appetite for the kind of high-quality food and beverages that Australia produces.

“Latin America presents considerable and exciting opportunities for Australian grains, meat, and produce.

“The CBH Group deal in Mexico is great news for Australian grain growers.

“Australian farmers and businesses are also set to benefit from better export opportunities with the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement between Australia and 14 other Indo-Pacific countries.

“With one in five Australian jobs reliant on trade, the RCEP Agreement will be crucial as Australia and the region begin to rebuild from the COVID 19 pandemic.”

Minister for Trade, Tourism, and Investment Dan Tehan said the Government is helping Australian producers break into new export markets to support jobs and growth at home and drive the nation’s economic recovery.

“Trade creates jobs and the more diversified our markets are the more jobs we create,” he stated.

“Austrade worked closely with CBH Group to fast-track its expansion into Latin America with market intelligence and local contacts.

“Austrade continues to work with CBH Group and other Australian businesses to open new markets and new exporting opportunities.

“I encourage Australian businesses to look at the Austrade website and contact Austrade to better understand how our Government can support them to reach new markets. WA co-operative CBH Group is to be applauded for its rapid response in developing a new potential market in Mexico, with its first shipment of malt barley to the country.”

The Australian Government is backing Australian agricultural exporters to diversify their market footprint in 2021 with the $72 million Agri-Business Expansion Initiative, which will provide scaled-up support services for more than 2,000 agri-food exporters and extra technical experts to expand market access.