SA exporters work towards new freight options

The deal involves a weekly A350-900 airbus flight out of Adelaide for eight weeks - the first flight having left yesterday - with each plane taking about 40 tonnes of SA produce to Singapore.

Trade, Tourism and Investment minister David Ridgway said the weekly flight was a big win for exporters who have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We're still not out of the woods, but this provides a bit of support, once a week," he said.

The deal coincided well with the work of the state government's Export Recovery Taskforce, which was set up in late March to bring together industry stakeholders from various parts of the supply chain, looking at ways to regain access into overseas markets.

"We went from having 48 to 52 international flights a week leaving Adelaide, to none, so the idea was to get everybody together to see how big the problem was, and what we could do about," Mr Ridgway said.

"Singapore Airlines, who are our oldest international carrier of both freight and people, started talking to us saying they were interested in getting a plane to fly the Adelaide to Singapore route, so a proposal was put to the federal government, who said they would back it."

The federal government has committed to funding the first two flights as part of its $110 million International Freight Assistance Mechanism announced last month, and would potentially fund the rest of the flights as well.

"The responsibility of the taskforce now is to make sure the planes are full," Mr Ridgway said.

"The federal government have put the financial mechanism in place, but they won't want to pay the support if the plane isn't up to close to the 40t capacity."

Yesterday's flight was full, and Mr Ridgway said there had been support from SA exporters across many industries, including Thomas Foods International, which loaded about six tonnes of lamb products onto the first flight. TFI has committed to loading 20t onto each of the subsequent flights.

"The industry supported it, and with people like (TFI chief executive officer) Darren Thomas stepping up with 20t a week, that really gives a good baseload, and shows great support for the initiative," he said.

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Mr Thomas said the airfreight deal re-opened access to a key market for TFI's premium value-added retail ready products, and an important freight hub into other countries as well.

"There is strong demand across the world for high quality Australian produce so it's really important that during this time, we continue to maintain direct access to overseas markets and position for future growth. Airfreight is a key part of the equation," Mr Thomas said.

Mr Ridgway said producers had been paying high and ever-changing costs to get their products out of Melbourne or Sydney, with the Singapore Airlines deal set to provide more stable freight rates.

Ferguson Australia managing director Andrew Ferguson welcomed the Singapore Airlines deal, with the company having been hit hard by COVID-19.

"When China shut down, suddenly we had no trade, and no customer base, as far as live exports go, then by the time things started to pick up in China, that's when Australia started to go into lockdown, so we got hit with a double whammy of effects really," Mr Ferguson said.

Ferguson Australia usually exports 95 per cent of its products to Asian markets, and sent off 2000 frozen fish packs on yesterday's inaugural flight, bound for a high-end Singapore supermarket. But Mr Ferguson was concerned about logistics of getting products to final destinations other than Singapore.

"We're covered well to get to Singapore, but if we can't link to where we go from then onwards, it's not good, seeing as our product is perishable," Mr Ferguson said.

"The Singapore flight is probably going to help tuna going to Japan, and other products going elsewhere, so I can see there are linkages, and when you're setting these things up from a government perspective, you need to cover as many people as you can."

Mr Ridgway said the Export Recovery Taskforce were now looking at the potential to send goods to other global destinations, during the next eight weeks and beyond.

"While we probably won't see international flights return to normal by then, we want to be well aware of all the things our producers would like to sell, so we have a handle on the sort of demand that is there, and the destinations they want to go to as well," he said.

Looking at domestic demand, William Buck's Head of Agribusiness Ben Trengove said COVID-19 was having a mixed impact across the sector, depending on the industry. ovid-19 was forcing agribusinesses to make significant changes to operations.

"From across the supply chain to the end consumer, there are many variables agribusinesses have to take into account in their day-to-day operations and forward planning," Mr Trengove said.

"One benefit is the low Australian dollar which is providing some relief for exporters.

"While wine producers have been hit hard by the closure of licensed venues and a decline in exports, some are seeing increased demand for more affordable lines and strong online and mail direct sales.

"Some fresh fruit and vegetable producers such as lettuce and cucumber growers are continuing to experience good demand. However with a reduction in restaurant trade, there has been a shift with less demand for 'fancy lines' and an increase demand for more traditional varieties like iceberg lettuce.

"We've also spoken with nut producers who are noticing a pick-up in domestic demand as customers seek out healthy food snacks with long shelf lives.