CBH Grower Study Tour: Ambassador thanks farmers for contribution to Australia-Indonesia trading relationship

Australia’s ambassador to Indonesia says the relationship between the two countries is “in a really good place” thanks to the ongoing efforts of generations of WA grain growers. Penny Williams made the comments during a visit by 37 West Australian farmers to her Jakarta residence during CBH Group’s annual Grower Study tour in late September. Ms Williams said there was “a real commitment” by the Australian and Indonesian governments to drive economic engagement, and acknowledged the important role WA’s $10 billion grains export industry would play. “We can’t forget what we’ve been doing very well for such a long time and the opportunities that come from that,” she said. “You’ve been doing extremely well as grain growers into this market for a long time, and you’ve got a lot to offer to other Australian exporters and other Australians looking to do business here.” Ms Williams described Indonesia’s economy as “incredibly dynamic”, with a “huge” middle class that was continuing to grow. “Hopefully, on this visit, you can also see that there’s more opportunities here for your business,” she added. Growers enjoyed drinks and canapes as they mingled with senior figures in the Indonesian flour milling industry — including members of APTINDO, the country’s peak body for flour mills — at the September 21 soiree. Ms Williams said the study tour was a “fantastic initiative” and stressed the Albanese Government’s commitment to Australia and Indonesia’s “bilateral economic relationship”. “A number of people have asked me already about the Australia-Indonesia relationship, I can say it’s in a really good place at the moment,” she said. “We’ve just had the Prime Minister here for the third time in 15 months. . . (and) the (Indonesian) President was recently in Australia to continue those conversations about economic engagement.” CBH board director Natalie Browning, who farms at Kondinin, said it was “an absolute privilege” to meet with the ambassador and thanked Ms Williams for her efforts to build relationships with Indonesia. “It’s great to see there’s a real focus on Indonesia; it’s a very important market for our grain, particularly our wheat,” Ms Browning said. “What (Ms Williams) talked about is what we talk about in our board room: strategic partnerships, and building relationships with our customers.” Ms Browning said maintaining relationships and building new ones had fuelled the expansion of CBH — Australia’s biggest grain handler — over the past 90 years. “The co-op was formed in 1933… and our first grain harvest received a little over 42,500 tonne of grain across five experimental sites,” she said. “Fast forward to our 90th year and we’ve just received our biggest ever crop on record last year, just a smidge under 23 million tonne. “The relationship that we have with Indonesia is just critical to our economic viability as grain growers in Western Australia. “It’s a relationship that we deeply value and we don’t want it to be a purely trading relationship, but a relationship-based on strategic investment that’s mutually beneficial for both parties.”