Tasmania's premium food and beverage brand earns global recognition as export income grows

Tasmania's food and beverage industry has built a premium national and international brand on the state's extraordinary natural assets — clean air, pure water, cool climate, and a geography that produces distinctive agricultural flavours — generating more than $800 million in annual food and beverage export income from a production base that is small by mainland standards but whose quality credentials command premium prices that mainland volume producers cannot match.

The whisky industry is Tasmania's most remarkable food success story of the past decade. Sullivans Cove Distillery's repeated recognition as the world's best single malt whisky sparked international interest in Tasmanian whisky, and the island now hosts more than 20 distilleries producing product that is exported to 40 countries at price points that position Tasmanian whisky alongside Scottish and Japanese premium expressions in the global premium spirits market. The industry has grown from a novelty to a genuine economic cluster employing more than 400 people.

Tasmanian wine has followed a similar premium trajectory, with Pinot Noir and sparkling wine from the Coal River Valley, Huon Valley, and East Coast regions achieving recognition at international wine shows and commanding export prices that reflect the cool-climate quality advantage that Tasmania's latitude provides. Moorilla, Josef Chromy, and Stefano Lubiana are among the producers whose wines now feature on premium restaurant wine lists in Tokyo, London, and Singapore.

Dairy, specialty meats including venison and King Island beef, and horticultural produce from the Huon Valley and Tamar Valley complete the premium food portfolio that Tasmania's food marketing agency, Brand Tasmania, promotes under the "Clean. Natural. Honest." positioning that has proven resonant in the premium-seeking consumer segments that Tasmanian food exports target.

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