It has provided — for the first time — an analysis of the dairy industry’s contribution to the economy, employment and diversity, regional Australia, transport, exports, environment and sustainability, and investment in capital as well as research and development.
ADPF president Grant Crothers said the report was the first time the focus had been on the dairy processing industry and its economic contribution and value to Australia.
“With no barriers to import competition, the Australian dairy processing industry relies on being globally competitive and generated $15.7 billion in revenue in 2019-20,” he said.
“It will surprise many that most of dairy processing’s contribution is indirect, accounting for $9.3 billion in value-added contributions out of the $12.4 billion total. The remaining $3.1 billion is direct value-added within dairy processing itself.
“This means that for every dollar of value-added in dairy processing, the industry supports three dollars of value-added elsewhere in the economy.”
Mr Crothers said it was not just the industry’s economic contribution covered in the report.
“The dairy processing industry is making significant progress when it comes to corporate social responsibility, sustainability and the environment.
“Energy use and emissions intensity have reduced by 24.5 per cent and 23.5 per cent respectively in the last three years.”
In terms of employment, the dairy processing industry contributes a total of 70,158 full-time equivalent jobs to Australian employment. Of these, 29 per cent are direct employees within dairy processing (20,394 FTE).
“The dairy processing industry also supports a further 49,764 FTE employees in other parts of the Australian economy meaning that for every job in dairy processing, the industry supports 2.4 indirect positions in aligned industries that are symbiotic to milk processing, such as raw milk and other ingredients, transport and utilities,” Mr Crothers said.
“Labour shortages have been an issue across all sectors of agriculture with dairy processors experiencing similar challenges.
“The report showed that nearly a quarter of the dairy processing sector’s workforce was categorised as being in the two highest skilled categories of jobs.
“This underlines the careers available for technical and highly skilled workers in dairy processing with many being in regional Australia.”
The report showed that 56.5 per cent of Australia’s direct dairy processing workforce was located in regional areas, and notably in Tasmania 95.9 per cent of all direct employees were in regional areas, along with 61.6 per cent in NSW and 55.5 per cent in Victoria.
ADPF executive director Janine Waller said the future for the dairy processing industry was assured, with an average of $383 million invested in capital expenditure by dairy processors annually between 2017-18 and 2019-20.
“Capital investment signals growth and drives innovation across the whole supply chain,” Ms Waller said.
“This report shows that as a share of total food manufacturing capital investment, dairy processing accounted for an average of 15 per cent, although in 2019-20 it reached 18.3 per cent.
“When this is combined with around $6.1 billion in employed capital, and dairy processing’s investment of around $12 million a year in research and development activities, the industry is innovating to support growth and competitiveness.”
