New SPC boss wants a fair go for his baked beans
The new boss of the company behind Ardmona canned tomatoes and Goulburn Valley fruit wants regulators to toughen up country-of-origin labelling so homegrown products can better compete with cheap imports that may have been made with poor labour practices.
South African-born Neil Brimacombe takes over at iconic fruit and vegetable manufacturer SPC from Robert Giles after the Shepparton-based company lost roughly 18,000 tonnes of product late last year in floods that ravaged Victoria.
Neil Brimacombe has replaced Robert Giles as the boss of SPC, the century-old Shepparton-based food processor which was sold by Coca-Cola Amatil for $40 million in 2018. Eamon Gallagher
SPC raised prices by about 10 per cent late last year and may have to do so again this year due to rising raw material costs and skyrocketing energy bills, Mr Brimacome said.
But one of the key issues for the new chief executive is boosting exports to target markets including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as Spain and Turkey. He said he spoke with Shepparton MP Sam Birrell about the need for a fair fight on the supermarket shelf when he met the National Party member in Canberra this week.
“We certainly see levelling the playing field as one of the bigger challenges for SPC going forward,” Mr Brimacombe told AFR Weekend.
“Australia is an open market, meaning imported product finds its way on to Australian shelves without any protectionist duties or barriers. Now don’t get me wrong, we’re entirely open to the concept of competing internationally and around the country. We’re certainly well up to that.
“But it must be on a level playing field and there are a number of concerns pertaining to these imported products, whether coming out of China or key
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