Murray River Organics today announced that exports of its products had increased by 27 percent year to date over FY2019 for the corresponding period and anticipates this trend will continue for the rest of FY2020.
China has been a major contributor to the increase, with sales to Chinese customers more than doubling in FY2020 since the same time last year, as MRG leverages the increasing demand in China for healthy foods.
Chief executive Valentina Tripp said there is more potential for MRG to grow exports to China following MRG’s recent launch on the WeChat platform in October 2019.
“WeChat is a very powerful tool used by more than a billion users each month which enables us to communicate directly with Chinese consumers, build brand awareness and share the Australian Organic Dried Vine Fruit provenance story as the largest Dried Vine Fruit grower in Australia,” Tripp said.
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MRG has been able to increase its market share [in Asian markets] with the introduction of its new branded product range across Greater China and South East Asia, which is part of the company’s “Taking Australia to Asia” growth strategy which was launched in 2018.
With ongoing concerns about food safety in Asia MRG believes Australia’s trusted clean and green reputation is also helping it to win new contracts.
The company has also re-entered the European market with high-quality Australian sultanas now being exported into the premium baking industries across Germany and Italy.
Tripp said that global demand for organic and conventional dried fruit remains strong and growing exports has been a major focus for MRG and the industry over the last 12 months.
“We have received significant support from Dried Fruit Australia, with its chairman, CEO and key board member, who are also growers, attending trade shows in China, Japan, Vietnam and Germany. They have been a great support in building international awareness of our high quality Australian sultanas. The feedback from those trade forums was that demand for Australia’s Dried Vine Fruit will continue to accelerate.”