CANFA Comment

5 Aug: Paris
For those that may not know we are on the GRDC The way we were tour.  There are 3 couples (Ray and I winners from the northern panel, Graig and Helen southern panel (Vic) winners and Tony and Peta from the western panel (WA) winners. Kylie from GRDC and Grega from Rural Press

It seems like weeks since we left home, but we're in Paris and have finally caught up with sleep. After arriving in Singapore we had free time in the morning so Ray and I walked around and had a ride on the Singapore flyer apparently the largest ferris wheel in the world but we did get magnificant views of the city despite the fog. It was very warm but not unbearable.

After lunch in a food court we all went off to our first official visit to Prima Mills flour mill, where we got an excellent reception from Lim Kay Kong (KK) the executive director and others. We had a meeting where we introduced ourselves and they outlined their company. Then we had a tour of the lab, food tasting kitchen and mill and KK walked us down to the nearest shopping centre to change money and to taste the local beer (Tiger - very nice). We stayed and had a meal in the revolving Chinese restaurant on top of one of their silos with magnificent views of the lights of the city at night.

We flew out at midnight then landed at Heathrow for a couple of hours before catching a flight to Paris. We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant and discussion turned to the promotion of Australian farm products. No solutions but all interesting (their red wine helped).

We had a tour of the city - this is when sleep was catching up with me - they had to wake me to show me the Eiffel tower. We came back for an hours rest before heading off for dinner but I couldn't wake up so we decided to pass so the others went and we slept.

The main take home messages from Prima mill visit:
* Their goal is to produce consistent products so customers will also come back to them and this reflects back to us as producers of wheat.
* From 6 types of flour they buy from around the world they produce 150 types of flour. Australian wheat has the best qualities but they still need other wheat to blend for particular needs.
* As a flour mill buying wheat their main concern is that after the deregulation of the AWB there is no independant umpire to ensure quality. We once had the excellent reputation of delivering exactly what we said we were delivering (protein grade, moisture etc) but now that confidence is gone. This company prides in the ability to blend specifically for customers demands so not having to double check standards would be a bonus. We are now relying on the trustworthiness of independent marketers to maintain that image.
* It is amazing what they find in wheat from some countries - stones, dirt, he even said bikes. We should be proud of our receival standards and make sure we keep them up.
* There are great opportunities for niche markets
* Educating the customer comes first before a product is introduced. This is where organic movement excelled and the GMO movement has failed.
* The company has diversified into making sauces and noodles for stir fries and soup and laksa (premium high end product priced very high so not to compete with cheaper alternatives) and have bakery franchises (sells the frozen bread to them to bake in the shops). They also have a state of the art computer system to run the mill and are selling this technology to other companies. And they run baking schools.

Anyway this trip has started off extremely well and looking forward to each day.

Anne and Ray Williams