The Hon. Joe Szakacs, Minister for Trade and Investment (SA), Media Release, 13 June 2025
The state’s food, wine and beverages have been showcased to international retail, food and hospitality business leaders at a special event hosted by South Australian Trade and Investment Minister Joe Szakacs in Japan earlier this week.
The ‘Tasting South Australia: Signature Dinner’, took place at the Australia Pavilion at World Expo 2025 Osaka on Tuesday and championed some of the state’s leading food, seafood, wine and agriculture businesses.
The dinner was launched with a cultural performance by ‘Of Desert and Sea’, a dance company of South Australian Aboriginal women from Kaurna, Narungga, Adnyamathanha, Yankunytjatjara and Ngarrindjeri.
The Malinauskas Government has leveraged the food-themed week at World Expo to grow the state’s $7.21 billion food and beverage export industry.
Local produce has featured heavily at the Australia Pavilion through event menus and cafe sales, totalling approximately:
- 1,500 glasses of SA wine
- 448 cartons of SA beer
- 3,200 cups of SA tea
- 165kg of SA kangaroo, lamb and beef
More than 20 of South Australia’s premier food and wine companies took part in the Signature Dinner including Ferguson Australia, Goolwa Pipi Co, Prohibition Liquor Co., Metala Wines and Woodside Cheese Wrights.
At a separate event on Wednesday the state’s famous, pristine and premium Southern Bluefin Tuna was showcased through a live culinary presentation by the Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association (ASBTIA).
This unique experience featured a traditional Japanese tuna cutting ceremony, live cooking demonstration, and Barossa Valley wine pairings.
Globally recognised for its sustainability, ASBTIA became the first Southern Bluefin Tuna fishery in the world to be certified by the Marine Stewardship Council earlier this year.
Japan is the largest market in the world for South Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna, with the country importing $58.3 million worth in the previous year.
South Australia’s involvement at World Expo is made possible through its $1 million Gold Partnership to highlight the state’s offerings to a global audience.
Quotes attributable to Joe Szakacs
The South Australian food, wine and beverage export industries employ hundreds of thousands of hard-working people across our state, and we want it to grow.
With 28 million people expected to visit World Expo this year, we’re seizing this important opportunity to showcase some of the industry’s premium products to influential distributors, importers, buyers, retailers in Japan.
We’re also proud to be supporting First Nations stories and economic development on the global stage.
South Australia already exports more than $58 million worth of tuna and $69 million of beef to Japan every year. There is room for other sectors to expand their reach in this growing market.
