Strengthening the resilience of Australian transport infrastructure and high freight costs are top supply chain priorities for food and grocery manufacturers, as revealed in a survey at the Australian Food and Grocery Council’s (AFGC) Supply Chain Summit this week.
Frequent failures of transport infrastructure, due to natural disasters and other factors, have hindered industry productivity through congestion and delays. In addition, rising energy, freight, and input costs are putting pressure on food and beverage manufacturers, jeopardising profitability and future national capability.
AFGC is calling on the government to swiftly implement the recommendations from its recent National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy. In particular, it urges government invest in fortifying the East-West freight rail line and East Coast freight rail network, critical arteries for delivering essential food and groceries to consumers nationwide.
“The vitality of the food and grocery industry hinges on efficient supply chains to ensure uninterrupted access to food for Australian households. Yet the industry is constantly dealing with disruptions and preparing for future threats,” said AFGC CEO Tanya Barden.
Without resilient infrastructure, the industry is forced to divert resources away from activities that increase innovations and productivity to cope with infrastructure issues.
A separate survey of AFGC members conducted in February revealed a 49% average increase in freight costs due to infrastructure-related challenges. The industry is adapting where it can, with all respondents of the survey leveraging technology to navigate persistent supply chain disruptions. They also confirmed that COVID-19 pandemic related disruptions were still impacting the flow of goods.
Government initiatives like last year’s National Disaster Preparedness Summit enable successful collaboration across the supply chain, using past experiences with floods, bushfires, and the COVID pandemic for future planning.
AFGC’s Supply Chain Summit and Sales Summit were held this week in Sydney. The industry body’s Sustainability Summit will take place next month.