With millions of mouths to feed in Australia and literally billions of mouths to feed on our proverbial 'doorstep', Australia – with its competitive advantage in agricultural production – is in a unique and exciting position to massively grow its export sales of protein rich foods into the increasingly populous and wealthy Asian region.
With the PAC Partners Agribusiness and Food Conference being held this week, it's a timely opportunity for investors to refresh their knowledge of some of Australia's leading agricultural (Ag) stocks…
Elders Ltd (ASX: ELD)
Elders is one of Australia's most recognised rural brands, however, for many years it has been housed within a complex and deeply indebted corporate structure from which it is starting to emerge via a major transformation program.
The group operates across Retail Products, Agency Services, Financial Services, Feed and Processing Services and Live Export Services which provides shareholders with exposure to both the farm input supply chain as well as farm output.
With a significant percentage of Australia's primary production utilising Elders' services this company offers investors a broad exposure to the sector.
Huon Aquaculture Group Ltd (ASX: HUO)
Like its larger peer Tassal which is discussed below, Huon is involved in the farming of salmon in Tasmania. In its conference presentation, Huon pointed out that there continues to be strong market demand and increased consumption of salmon within Australia which has now surpassed two kilograms per person per year.
Like Tassal, Huon's major market is currently Australia, however, as investors have seen with other primarily Australian-based food manufacturers such as Freedom Foods Group Ltd (ASX: FNP), export markets can offer strong growth prospects.
Ruralco Holdings Ltd (ASX: RHL)
There are many parallels in terms of the services supplied by Ruralco and Elders particularly their operations in rural supplies and livestock agencies. Interestingly, while Elders arguably has a more recognisable brand, Ruralco has been the better performing business in recent years.
Ruralco operates across all states and territories in Australia having previously been predominately a Tasmanian-based firm. Part of its expansion plans across mainland Australia have involved partnering with leading agricultural businesses – recent partners have included firms operating in fields ranging from water solutions to live export to livestock agency sales.
Like Elders, Ruralco offers investors exposure to a wide array of the Ag sector.
Tassal Group Limited (ASX: TGR)
While for most Ag companies the growth potential is firmly focussed on the export market, interestingly this isn't the case for Australia's leading salmon farmer Tassal. For the first half of the current financial year just 3.4% of the group's revenue was attributed to the export market. With the group enjoying more favourable pricing domestically, this skew is unlikely to change in the near future.
With plans to expand beyond salmon and into other seafood products, Tassal's growth story could increasingly become one of export potential too.
