Forager Foods finds new markets with the help of an FTA

I am looking forward to hosting a business seminar in Launceston this week where Tasmanian success story Forager Foods will share how a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) helped boost its sales into China.

John Ranicar, Managing Director of Forager Foods, will join representatives from Austrade, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, AusIndustry and Tradestart to offer practical export advice to attendees.

The session will cover Australia’s recently signed Peru-Australia FTA and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP-11), as well as agreements Australia has signed with China, Japan and Korea.

FTAs are providing significant and ongoing advantages for Australian goods and services in markets that comprise a significant proportion of the global economy.

Tariffs on dried fruit products exported by Foragers to China, for example, previously attracted a 25 per cent duty. 

Since the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement entered into force, this has dropped to 5 per cent, and it will fall to zero on 1 January 2019.

Australia’s FTAs reduce barriers to trade over time, making markets more accessible for our exporters.

The free seminar, from 2pm on Tuesday 31 July at Peppers Silo Hotel, Invermay, is part of a series run by Austrade and DFAT across Australia to help businesses use FTAs to grow their markets. Since March 2015, over 100 FTA seminars have been delivered in urban and regional centres around the country.

Launceston businesses, including many small and medium-sized enterprises and companies who are considering taking their products or services to an overseas market for the first time, are well placed to exploit the opportunities provided by FTAs.

For more information about the FTA seminars, call Austrade on 13 28 78 or email fta@austrade.gov.au.