Steady growth predicted for food & beverage industry


The latest Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and CHEP Retail Index, released yesterday, showed a 3 per cent growth in December 2012 in a year-on-year comparison with December 2011. In dollar terms, retail trade turnover is expected to rise moderately, from $21.5 billion in December 2012 to $21.6 billion in February 2013.

Australian Food & Grocery Council (AFGC) Chief Executive, Gary Dawson, said, “Trading conditions remain challenging for food and grocery manufacturers. Planned capital investment to improve efficiency and productivity and a focus on innovation to capitalise on expanding Asian markets will be among the priorities for the industry in 2013.”

The AFGC CHEP Retail Index is a collaborative project between the AFGC and CHEP Australia, powered by Deloitte. The Index uses CHEP transactional data based on pallet movements and is a lead indicator of Australian Bureau of Statistics Retail Trade data.

The current index can be found here.
Read Kate Carey’s full article at Australian Food News