Establishment of Seafood Services Australia stage 1 - extension and advisory services

Project number: 1999-333
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $193,861.00
Principal Investigator: Stephen Thrower
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Project start/end date: 11 Jul 1999 - 30 Jun 2001
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Workforce
Value Add
Resource Enhancement
Market Opportunities
Food Safety

Need

Demand for assistance from clients in areas such as live transport, modified atmosphere packaging, value adding, market information, etc continues. Requests for information in three new areas have increased. These are:

(i) A search for alternative export markets and domestic outlets for product formerly sent to Asia. In order to assist in this area, Alan Snow has recently competed an export facilitation course through the Australian Institute of Export.

(ii) A need to comply with food safety regulations and quality assurance specifications of customers and ultimately ANZFA. This is expected to increase as a result of the SeaQual initiatives.

(iii) A requirement to support the SeaQual Chooser initiative through supply of suitable material for the SeaQual packs and through an increased volume of requests for customised information packages resulting from the distribution of 35,000 Choosers.

More specifically, industry needs from AUSEAS that we have identified are:

1. Assistance to people who are exploring new ventures, products, and processes. This includes value adding and processing options, market details, and technical information.

2. Information on contacts in markets, government agencies, and other service providers (eg consultants, freight forwarders, equipment providers). AUSEAS needs to maintain a comprehensive list of contacts and to keep information on the capabilities of providers of services to improve coordination across the seafood industry.

3. Customised assistance to companies implementing food safety plans and quality management programs in cooperation with SeaQual initiatives.

4. Trouble shooting when problems occur, usually in the form of telephone advice or short targeted written material.

5. Advice on funding assistance, usually in the areas of product and process development applications to NSC. This can include reviewing applications before and after submission and assessment of reports.

6. Demand for brief targeted information to be provided free of charge through delivery methods such as internet, fax-back, etc.

7 A centralised delivery point for information on seafood related matters acting as a "one stop shop" for the industry.

8 A need to promote the national post-harvest infrastructure services of FRDC. i.e. AUSEAS, NSC, and SeaQual.

Objectives

1. To provide the Australian seafood industry with technical information and advice that is timely, relevant and accurate.
2. To provide fast targeted responses to approaches by industry when problems occur.
3. To maintain an inventory of the sources of funding assistance available for industry development.
4. To develop a comprehensive web page that provides basic free information to industry, the public, and students as well as further access to AUSEAS resources and other post harvest programs.
5. To participate in the development and promotion of Seafood Services Australia.

Final report

ISBN: 0 646 40220
Author: Stephen Thrower
Final Report • 2000-09-15 • 3.54 MB
1999-333-DLD.pdf

Summary

This report covers the activities projects 1996/341 and 1999/333 for the period 1996 to 2000.  In October 1999 AUSEAS along with the National Seafood Centre (NSC) and SeaQual were brought together under the umbrella name of Seafood Services Australia (SSA).

To avoid confusion, for the remainder of this report, the previous name of the service AUSEAS (Australian Seafood Extension and Advisory Service) has been replaced with the new title SSA.

The report begins with a review of current activities including: 

  • industry inquiries and the SSA responses;
  • consultancies;
  • the preparation of the Australian Seafood Industry Directory;
  • the sales of technical literature packages.

A discussion of the available information resources is then followed by promotional activities.  This is followed by a consideration of staffing issues including staff skills development to better service clients’ needs.

Finally, there is a discussion of planned new initiatives including development of a “one-stop shop” Internet site for the post-harvest fisheries sector.  This will allow clients to access a wide range of information held in the SSA databases including:  the bibliography of the technical information available through this service;  sources of assistance for industry development;  and a topical issues discussion line.  A special feature of this will be a series of technical advisory notes.

Keywords: Literature searches; Publications; Information; Advice; Research.

Related research

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Industry

Hooking into Asian Seafood Markets

Project number: 1999-347
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $310,635.00
Principal Investigator: Kevin Smith
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Project start/end date: 11 Jul 1999 - 29 Nov 2002
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Workforce
Trade
Supply Chain
Marketing
Market Opportunities

Need

The first item on the previous Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, John Anderson’s list of priorities for R&D corporations was "Identify strategic market access and investment opportunities based on improved access to international markets and to develop strategies to take advantage of these opportunities". The recently completed HIASM project is the only FRDC project to address this priority item. The project established a working relationship with the Supermarket to Asia Council and the new proposal will competently address the need identified by the Federal Government. The proposed project also addresses the FRDC program “industry development” and its key areas of “market development”, “value adding”, "quality and information delivery". The project will forge new links with the Supermarket to Asia (STA) program and will be the key link between STA and the seafood industry on a national basis.

The number of enquiries received by the project team on a wide range of species and products highlights the need for this project. The main needs that this project will address are:

* Keeping the Asian seafood market door open at a time when industry attention is temporarily diverted to such markets as USA and Europe.
* Overcoming the lack of industry expertise in marketing and lack of awareness of quality requirements in Asian markets.
* Adding value to under utilised and under valued species.
* Providing marketing information for other seafood projects.
* Generating interest in export markets.
* Providing a national seafood industry catalyst for quality initiatives and a focus point for marketing information for Australian under-utilised species.
* Providing a link with Supermarket to Asia programs and assisting with the uptake of these programs by the seafood industry.
* Providing a link with Asian trade exhibitions in order to increase seafood industry participation in these exhibitions.
* Increasing through-chain quality improvement by increasing the number of seafood companies with SeaQual Quality Food Australia accreditation.
* National co-ordination of marketing quality Australian seafoods.
* Revising awareness of Asian markets and their product and quality requirements.
* Developing a framework for how to do business in Asia included key marketing data on the Asian markets, competitor profiles and impediments to trade in the region.

The project team of the completed HIASM project also provided contacts from their in-market research to a number of companies or individuals that are pursuing markets for Australian seafood species. The knowledge gained from the project has already encouraged marketing efforts on lesser known but sustainable seafood species and will also encourage the harvesting of species that are currently not commercially viable in Australia. The HIASM project is the only marketing project with a national steering committee as a reference group that can assist in the expansion of markets for Australian seafood species.

The “Hooking into Asian Seafood Markets” project will work with SeaQual (Australia) in developing a SeaQual accreditation standards for the Australian seafood industry. The project will provide a conduit between STA and the seafood industry with respect to the project commercial operators and will assist with increasing the awareness of STA programs.

Objectives

1. Maintain and increase an effective market presence in Asia through: research into maximising returns on existing products, new market research, competitor analysis and new species research.
2. Achieve the entry of one under utilised/under valued species into an Asian market from the original HIASM project and at least one species product from the new project.
3. Achieve greater industry export market awareness and capability through: supporting industry attendance at trade exhibitions and utilisation of market networks through Qld Government offices, Austrade and private sector alliances.
4. Provide Asian market requirements data for the development of SeaQual (Australia) quality certification for the seafood industry.
5. Facilitate the integration of SeaQual (Australia) initiatives throughout the seafood export supply chain.
6. Develop "an export framework" for ongoing use by seafood marketers.

Final report

ISBN: 0-7345-0213-3
Author: Kevin Smith
Final Report • 2002-11-07 • 105.50 KB
1999-347-DLD.pdf

Summary

The Hooking into Asian Seafood Markets project was established to identify and facilitate the development of markets for Australian under- utilised seafood species, and to help industry operators to better understand the key opportunities and challenges that exporters need to consider in relation to exporting under-utilised seafood species to overseas markets.

The under-utilised seafood export guide is designed to help Australian seafood operators better understand the requirements of the Asian marketplace and could be used as a handbook for undertaking export development in Asian countries. It is aimed at those fishers and processors who want to export for the first time or who are relatively inexperienced in exporting. There is however also valuable information for exporters seeking to export new products or targeting new markets.

The export guide was aimed at adding value to Australian under-utilised species by investigating the demand for them in selected Asian seafood markets and identifying characteristics of these markets.  In the long term, the adoption of the opportunities identified throughout the project has real potential to develop new export markets. The challenge for exporters is to match their capability to supply under-utilised Australian seafood products with the specific requirements of the various Asian seafood markets.

Project products

Guide • 20.69 MB
Under-utilised Seafood to Asia - a guide for Australian seafood exporters.pdf

Summary

The 'Hooking into Asian Seafood Markets' project was established by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Department of Primary Industries, Queensland, to identify and facilitate the development of markets for Australian under-utilised seafood species, and to help industry operators to better understand the key opportunities and challenges that exporters need to consider in relation to exporting under-utilised seafood species to overseas markets.

Over a hundred Australian under-utilised species were initially identified by the Australian seafood industry. These species were then assessed against two criteria; volume of supply and potential interest in overseas markets. Given the unpredictable supply of under-utilised species, supply capabilities were discussed with seafood industry associations, seafood exporters and fishers. Potential market interest was ascertained from prior market research.

Twenty-six species were initially selected. Further market research was undertaken in selected export markets to further determine export potential. The final prioritisation of eight species for the export guide was based on those that had the most market potential and also those that most widely represented the types of species families that were known and demanded in Asia. The eight species also represent fisheries resources around Australia from both warm and more temperate waters.

This guide is designed to help Australian seafood operators better understand the requirements of the Asian marketplace, and can be used as a handbook for undertaking export development in Asian countries. It is aimed at those fishers and processors who want to export for the first time or who are interested in learning more about exporting. Fishers, who are currently catching or have the potential to catch under-utilised seafood species and are interested in exporting them, will also benefit from this guide. However, there is also valuable information for exporters seeking to export new products or targeting new markets.