Ritesh Kulkarni 
Getting a food or beverage concept from bench to brief has always been expensive — and most of that cost lands before a single unit ships. A new facility at the University of Queensland is designed to change that calculus for Australian producers. The Faba Maker Space, developed under Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (Faba), … Read more
The shift from voluntary to mandatory felt incremental on paper. In practice, it handed suppliers something they hadn’t held in years — a document with genuine enforcement weight sitting behind every trading conversation. Australia’s Food and Grocery Code of Conduct has been reshaped materially in recent periods, and the latest round of changes — including … Read more
Fuel surcharges of up to 65 per cent of shipment value are now hitting rural fresh produce growers, and if Australia’s major supermarkets fail to engage with price increase requests quickly, the growers making planting decisions today may not be there for the next harvest. That is the uncomfortable commercial reality sitting behind a formal … Read more
When the ITMF Global Textile Industry Survey shifts its top-ranked concern from weak demand to geopolitics, that is not a sentiment footnote — it is a signal that the operating environment for mills and brands has changed category. The 37th edition makes that shift explicit, and the data behind it is specific enough to matter … Read more
Non-latex personal care is one of the quieter growth pockets in the health and wellness aisle — and a new product from Life Styles Healthcare Australia is making a direct play for the top of that shelf. The claim is bold: the thinnest non-latex condom currently available on the market. Skyn Supreme Feel has launched … Read more
Fire performance in architectural silicone coatings has long forced a compromise between non-combustibility and processability. Elkem Silicones’ BLUESIL™ TCS 7544 is built to close that gap for coating manufacturers who need documented compliance with EN 13501-1 Euroclass A1/A2 — the highest fire classification categories within the European construction products framework. Announced from Lyon, France, in … Read more
When a conflict thousands of kilometres from New Zealand starts showing up in an infant formula company’s freight bill, it is a reminder of how quickly geopolitical disruption converts into margin damage. For A2 Milk, the Middle East conflict has moved from background macro risk to a confirmed line item in a downgraded earnings forecast. … Read more
Four gifting brands, one marketplace, and a 43 per cent growth forecast: that is the commercial logic behind Edible Blooms’ latest consolidation play in Australia’s online gifting sector. I’ve been watching this category fragment for years, and this move is the clearest signal yet that the hamper and gifting space is entering a platform phase. … Read more
Wine rarely moves in a straight line under pressure. When logistics costs rise, retail concentration tightens, and export demand softens in the same cycle, the supply chain doesn’t just strain — it reconfigures. That reconfiguration is now visible across Australian wine. The question worth asking for every brand manager and supermarket buyer working the beverages … Read more
The legislative fix for retail worker abuse in Western Australia has already cleared one chamber of parliament — what’s missing now is urgency from the other. Every week the upper house stalls, the same repeat offenders keep walking back through the same doors. The Australian Retail Council (ARC) is calling on the WA Government to … Read more