|
|
|
Speech by Gerry Lawson, Chairman, SunRice Ladies and gentlemen, SunRice is an international food business anchored in regional Australia. We are a unique food company from this perspective. SunRice has brands and relationships in over 60 countries. Some of these countries have representatives here tonight. We are delighted to have present here tonight His Excellency Piergiorgio Mazzocchi from the European Union, His Excellency Michel Bitar from Lebanon, His Excellency Luk Darras from Belgium, His Excellency Dr Samir Masarwah from Jordan and First Secretary Ms Rasheeda Adam from the South African High Commission and, 2nd Secretary Mr Zafer Ates from Turkey and First Secretary – Yosef Al-Maskati from Kuwait. The world loves SunRice because of its very high quality, variety and range of products and superior customer service. SunRice is committed to operating excellence and innovation. Training and development is important to SunRice, and the region in which we operate. We pride ourselves in training young people and providing opportunities for regional Australians. SunRice is also focused on adding value to rice and has achieved this by producing and marketing an exciting range of rice foods which includes snacks and convenience meals. By adding value to rice in the form of branded food products, we are also adding value to farm inputs. This is particularly evident in the case of water – our precious resource - vital for the production of food worldwide. Water used to grow the rice found in many SunRice products has increased in value. The SunRice 3 Minute Express cups for example returns over $7,000 per megalitre – this return is much greater than many other products found on our supermarket shelves. SunRice is not only the most successful rice food business, it is a way of life – SunRice feeds over 40 million people each day in over 60 countries and for these reasons for SunRice….. Rice is Life. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Minister Mark Vaile for his work in maintaining our successful and commercially driven rice marketing arrangements within the US FTA. These arrangements form one of the pillars of success for our industry. |
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF RICE |
    |
© Copyright Ricegrowers' Association of Australia |
