Charles Darwin University: AWB Limited International Marketing Report

This report examines AWB Limited, an Australian agricultural company specializing in grain marketing solutions, and its potential for international expansion, specifically targeting the Japanese market. The report begins with an overview of AWB Limited, detailing its history, products (pulses, oilseeds, barley, and services like crop insurance), and subsidiaries. It then delves into the Australian and Japanese market trends, highlighting opportunities and challenges within the agricultural sector. The analysis includes an examination of consumer profiles relevant to AWB Limited's products and services. The report provides a comprehensive understanding of the company's market position, the competitive landscape, and the factors influencing its international marketing strategy. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and offers recommendations for AWB Limited's expansion into the Japanese market. The report also includes an overview of the industry and the services that the company provides to the farmers.

Running head: AWB LIMITED, AUSTRALIA
AWB LIMITED, AUSTRALIA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
An overview of AWB Limited...................................................................................................2
An overview of the products in AWB Limited..........................................................................3
Industry overview.......................................................................................................................5
Current market trends and opportunities in Australia............................................................5
Market trends and opportunities in Japan..............................................................................6
Consumer profile........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
It is observed that the market of Australia is mostly limited by the type of industries,
their location and the size of the business. Most of them are SMEs that stands for Small and
Medium Sized Enterprises that are looking ways to expand outside which will help them
grow the business they have now and the main focus given by them is on the markets that are
international (Mullen, Vernon and Fishpool 2000). Therefore, the operation of these
industries will be both domestic as well as international. Hence, it becomes important that the
current trends of both the markets that is the domestic and the international must be known to
the one doing or thinking of doing a business. It becomes difficult as the countries may have
market that is distinctive and that are consumer specific (Masec and Prokopy 2014). The
range of opportunity becomes more when a business operates in an international market.
This report discusses about the role of an International Marketing Consultant in
identifying an agriculture-based company which in this case is AWB Limited, its overview of
the company and the product also the marketing trends of the domestic and international
market and helping the organization expand its business to Japan.
An overview of AWB Limited
AWB Limited is a company that is based on the grain marketing solutions and
services based in Melbourne, Australia. It was earlier a government body which was named
as Australian Wheat Board till 1999; after this the company was converted into a private
company that was owned by the growers of wheat. Later, in the year 2010 a Canadian firm
named Agrium acquired this company and the name of this company again changed into
Agrium Asia Pacific Limited (AWB 2020).
AWB Limited is considered as one of the leading agricultural supply which is
highly diversified and that has a great specialization in terms of storage, handling, trading and

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processing of the oilseeds and grains. The company has got an extensive networking channel
and is connected to several local areas and states over an Australia belt which has a
partnership with the Australian farmers (AWB 2020). There are many subsidiaries that are
incorporated by this company and this helps in the diversification of the income that comes
apart from just the wheat exports. Most of the subsidiaries of this company were in existence
due to the requirements made by the legislations that were related to the operation which
were performed based on the single desk. In the year 2011, this company was then acquired
by Cargill Australia which was considered as the originating and trading hand for the AWB
Limited (AWB 2020).
The principle subsidiaries of this company that is AWB Limited includes:
1. AWB International Limited: is one corporation that has been authorized by the
Federal legislation in order to export wheat.
2. AWB Finance Limited: this is related to the c=funding that is commercial for the
company.
3. AWB Seeds limited: this is into the growing of bean pulses that are also exported
across the world.
There are many competitors of this company present in the market. Some of them are
Royal Cebeco Group Cooperative UA, Cencex Harvest State Corporation and many more
(AWB 2020). However, AWB Limited has made a focus and are committed in developing
themselves as one of the major international agricultural-based business in the upcoming
time.
An overview of the products in AWB Limited
The company provides both, services and products for the farmers and consumers
respectively. The major product that is sold by this company is the pulses, sorghum, barley

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and oilseeds. The wheat production accounts for about 90 percent of the business of AWB’s
exports. The company also provides a wide range of services to the Australian farmers that
includes: Broadacre crop insurance policies: under this it helps the Australian growers to
mitigate and manage the risks they face while creating a farm business that is very resilient
and the growers of the grain are very good at controlling the risks they face during cropping.
Another service provided by the company is related to the fixed grade contracts for
the grains (Walsh 2015). This allows the farmers to fix the price of the delivery of the grains
at the present day which would help in getting all the accessibility of the market opportunities
and no opportunity will be missed by the farmers.
Third service provide by the company is the multi grain contract. This service of the
company helps the Australian farmers to manage the risk of the quality faced by the farmers
while producing them (Martin 2015). There are many risks associated that includes the
seasonal variation and the committing of a particular quality of the grain which needs to be
mitigated before the grains reaches to the end consumers.
Product/Service name of the product or
services
Product/service is
available to
Product Pulses (AWB 2020) Consumers in the market
Product Oilseeds (AWB 2020) Consumers in the market
Product Barley (AWB 2020) Consumers in the market

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Service Broadacre crop insurance Farmers of the country
(AWB 2020)
Service Multi grain contract Farmers of the country
(AWB 2020)
Service Fixed grade contract Farmers of the country
(AWB 2020)
Industry overview
The most significant producer of most of the products that are based on agriculture
which includes wheat, wool, broad acre grains, oilseeds legumes and many more is Australia.
The country has been a significant producer of all these agricultural based products.
When it comes to the production of agricultural products, Australia is acknowledged
to have the best competitive advantage of all the countries across the globe. This is also due
to the geographical area the country has, because of the high-end technology the country is
able to use and also because of the skills of the workforce they have (Acuna 2014).
Therefore, it helps in rising the economy of the country and hence Australia is
believed to have the most productive internal sectors that are competitive.
Current market trends and opportunities in Australia
Market opportunities of Australia

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The markets which have their bases as export take bulk products from this sectors which
includes cotton, sugar, wool products and many more and the markets that are local or
domestic are considered to be more important than the export market. These includes crops
based on horticulture, pulses and grains and others. Therefore, it is seen that most of the
products that are produced in Australia are exported to other countries making it easy and
helpful for the rise in the country’s economy. This has also resulted in the rise of the living
standards of the people in the country and a creation of more demand for the products that are
based on agriculture over the years.
Market trends of agriculture in Australia
Changing pattern of the demand in consumers have been a major problem and it gives
a setback to this industry as well (Willer and Lernoud 2019). The organization or the industry
must know what the consumers wants and customize or produce their products accordingly.
Change in technology or innovation in technology has also been a major problem as
these help in increasing the mechanism of the aspect of agriculture.
When international market is taken in consideration for the expansion of the business,
the most important thing that is to be kept in mind is the current marketing trend and
opportunities in Japan as well. This will help us to know what precautionary measures are to
be taken beforehand.
Domestic fact Global fact
Major marketer of the grains and pulses the
organization produces.
Many branches have been open on the
countries around the globe.

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There is consistency in the market and
consumers are now more focused about the
quality being produced.
There have been restrictions in many
regulations from the other countries.
Source: created by the author
Market trends and opportunities in Japan
The agricultural sector of Japan is considered to be the ninth largest production base
of the world. The country is known for delivering the world with the exquisite, high quality
and healthy products. The important crops that are produced by Japan includes rice, barley,
soybeans, wheat and a very large varieties of fruits and vegetables.
The country uses a very fast and latest technology for the growing and agricultural
needs. These includes precision agriculture and robotics, temperature and moisture sensor
and several others. It must be kept in mind that it is necessary to understand the trends going
on in the market and the needs and wants of the customers to have a better production of the
things that are required (Hualupmomi 2014).
Consumer profile
Any business be it small or big is determined by thee activity in marketing it has. This
is the only factor for the organization to be successful. Therefore it become very important to
develop a marketing strategy that would help the organization to be stable in the coming
years. Australia now is entering an era of dynamicity in marketing and accordingly the sector
will have to make the changed required be it on physical or in technical grounds and manage
these changes that are required to addressed by the organization (Wood and Logsdon 2017).
The organization taken here is the AWB Limited and its base of operation is in
Melbourne, Australia. The organization is responsible for producing the food staples and the
background of the industry is based on the consumer products. This is an agricultural

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producers of the country and they also provide services to the Australian farmers based on the
insurance they are taking from the company. They are also responsible for providing
innovative tools and techniques for the growers that would help them increase their
production thus making it beneficial for the consumers, farmers as well as the organization
itself.
The company is in to the food and beverage type sector and the main aim of this
sector is to produce goods that are agricultural-based which includes pulses, wheat, grains
and several others (Sippel, Larder and Lawrence 2017). These products are made available to
the markets in Australia and are also exported to other countries internationally. However, the
target group of the company are the grain growers and all the cultivators within the country
Australia.
The company has a wide distribution network which covers around more than 50
countries of the world and the subsidiaries of the company helps in reducing the risks
associated with the company.
Industry consumer group Consumers
Home-makers Consumers who seek for healthy and good
quality products.
Cooking professionals Professional and semi-professionals who
have long chain of restaurant or businesses
that seek quantity.
Australian farmers Farmers who seek for services like
insurance of the crops and matter related to
prices.

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Source: created by the author
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded from the above discussion that the sectors which is based on
the agriculture plays a very significant role in raising the economy of any country. It also
helps in the development of the country and brings in technology that are economically
prosperous. Australia has been a significant producer of crops ad grains and AWB Limited
has helped maintaining throughout.
There have been formulation of new strategies for the mitigation and reducing the
risks that is associated with the business and the company. Besides, it must be kept in mind
that when a business is about to expand its branches it is very important that the current trend
of the market in the place of expansion is known so that the business can be developed
accordingly and better achievement of the products to the customers can be provided.

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References
Acuna, T., 2014. The AgLTAS project submission. Agricultural Science, 26(1), p.23.
AWB | Australian Grain Marketing Solutions And Services | AWB. (2020). Retrieved 24
March 2020, from https://www.awb.com.au/
Hualupmomi, F., 2014. The rise of China: Implications for Sino-PNG
relations. Contemporary PNG Studies, 21, p.8
Martin, A.M., 2015. Factory farming and consumer complicity. In Philosophy comes to
dinner (pp. 213-224). Routledge.
Mase, A.S. and Prokopy, L.S., 2014. Unrealized potential: A review of perceptions and use of
weather and climate information in agricultural decision making. Weather, Climate, and
Society, 6(1), pp.47-61.
Mullen, J.D., Vernon, D. and Fishpool, K.I., 2000. Agricultural extension policy in Australia:
public funding and market failure. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource
Economics, 44(4), pp.629-645.
Sippel, S.R., Larder, N. and Lawrence, G., 2017. Grounding the financialization of farmland:
perspectives on financial actors as new land owners in rural Australia. Agriculture and
Human Values, 34(2), pp.251-265.
Walsh, B., 2015. Marketing Agricultural Products and Services: AgGuide Business Series.
NSW Agriculture.
Willer, H. and Lernoud, J., 2019. The world of organic agriculture. Statistics and emerging
trends 2019 (pp. 1-336). Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL and IFOAM
Organics International.

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Wood, D.J. and Logsdon, J.M., 2017. Theorising business citizenship. In Perspectives on
corporate citizenship (pp. 83-103). Routledge.