TWO new red meat export trading businesses, each working in different market segments, have opened their doors for business in Australia this week, following the departures of six key trading staff from Bindaree Beef’s Sanger Australia division last month.

Former Sanger personnel Tim Sullivan, Campbell Basnett, Will Jeffreys and James Larkin have started business today as Endeavour Sales and Marketing, while their former workmates Stewart Hanna and Michael Niblett started last week with a new Australian trading office for Sure Good Foods Australia Pty Ltd.

Together, the six have around 110 years’ experience as international meat traders, with deep connections and relationships across the global red meat marketplace.

All left the Sanger business on amicable terms, with a rowdy knees-up held in Sydney on Friday afternoon.

Tim Sullivan

Messrs Sullivan, Basnett, Jeffreys and Larkin, together with several support staff, have located their Endeavour Australia business in the NSW agribusiness hub of Orange.

“Having drawn curtains with Sanger on Friday, Endeavour Australia will take with it solid customer and supplier relationships into the next chapter, including the long working relationship with Bindaree Beef following the amicable exit,” the new company said in a brief statement.

Endeavour will be a continuation of existing business channels, with an additional focus on adding value through the development of key supply chains, in branded beef, lamb and veal. The company has established exclusive marketing deals with several large vertically integrated quality red meat supply chains, to be announced in coming weeks.

Sure Good Foods Australia

In this week’s second big meat trading development, major Canadian-based international trading business, Sure Good Foods is a opening its first office in Australia. It will be headed by Mr Hanna, formerly a Sanger senior trader and North America sales manager. Mr Niblett will be director of international sales.

Stewart Hanna

The Australian division will focus on the large-volume commodity end of the export meat trade out of Australia, including frozen manufacturing beef into North America, as well as emerging and established markets in Asia and elsewhere. Other species including lamb and mutton will also be traded.

Sure Good Foods has more than 400 customers worldwide, managed by a team of 35 traders. The company handles the shipment of about 200,000t of pork, beef, poultry, fruits & vegetables annually to more than 40 countries. Two months ago, Sure Good opened a trading office in the US, further expanding the company’s international footprint.

The company’s Australian operations will be based out of offices in North Sydney.

“The decision to expand our presence into Australasia was a logical step in our business growth strategy,” said the company’s president, Troy Warren. “Australia and New Zealand is a critical protein producing region for the global meat trade, and having a team of trading experts based in Sydney to provide in-market representation for Sure Good Foods is important to both our supplier and customer base, to exchange real time market information,” he said.

“Our growing customer base expects us to provide protein supply options from around the globe, and adding production from the Australasia region is critical to deliver against this request. Adding two incredibly talented and experienced global protein traders to the Sure Good Foods team is an amazing opportunity for our organisation and the global customer base we service,” Mr Warren said.

Over the coming months, Mr Hanna would lead the expansion of staff at Sure Good Foods to become a full-service Australian meat trading organisation, he said.

The growth into Australia comes just two months after the company formed Sure Good Foods US based out of Atlanta, which is focused on sourcing and selling US poultry internationally.  Since 2017, Sure Good Foods has doubled its international office network with the aim of building stronger links in the global food import and export business.

Other recent meat wholesaler/trader moves

The establishment of Sure Good Foods and Endeavour this week follow a series of changes in Australian meat wholesale/trading ranks in recent times.

Some months ago, Teys Australia made a strategic investment in Melbourne-based independent meat trader/wholesaler Adams Food Group.

Gary Adams AFG

The AFG business will continue to be independently managed by its founder, Gary Adams, a 30-year veteran in meat trading.

After growing steadily since the business was launched in 2010, AFG became the exclusive trading partner of meat protein products for the Woolworths group in 2017. The company earlier filled a similar export role with surplus beef from the Coles supply chain.

Teys investment in AFG obviously aligns with its beef kills for Woolworths supermarkets conducted at Wagga and Naracoorte.

Both Coles and Woolworths have recently expressed an intention to move more heavily into meat exports, especially in retail-ready form. The move appears to be primarily about optimising the return from high-value livestock purchased primarily to fill the companies’ domestic supermarket requirements, with surpluses and less popular cuts shifted overseas.

Teys investment in Adams Foods Group follows its earlier investment some years ago in the Stone family’s large Melrina Wholesale Meats business, one of Australia’s largest independent meat wholesalers and food service suppliers, with offices in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

The Melrina business stocks a wide range of Teys grainfed and grassfed beef brands, plus outside brands including MDH, Green Mountain, Stockyard Beef and Rock Valley veal.