An article in the Nelson Mail examines the growth of the health trade in Nelson, New Zealand, with a focus on the desire to grow the natural food supplement industry. In fact, a government-funded study has commenced in Nelson on ways to grow the industry and developing the nutraceuticals products sector.
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Study into growth of health trade
By TRACY NEAL - The Nelson Mail
A Government-funded study has started in Nelson on ways to grow its natural food supplement industry to one potentially worth $200 million a year to the region.
The Nelson Regional Economic Development Agency (EDA) has received $40,000 from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) to investigate opportunities around developing an industrial park, or "incubator", for the nutraceuticals products sector.
EDA chief executive Bill Findlater said there was potential to expand the industry up to eight times its current worth.
NZTE regional economic development manager Jo Rainey said about $25m in combined revenue was currently generated by the sector. Key players were expected to quadruple revenue over the next three to five years.
Mr Findlater said the EDA was aiming for bigger growth through its plans to create opportunities for the wider industry.
Nelson had the highest per-capita increase in numbers of people working in science and research and development.
"It's an area of significant opportunity for us."
The study was at only the early scoping stage but the aim was to create opportunities in Nelson for businesses working in, or associated with, the food supplement business to gain better economies of scale through shared resources and facilities.
The idea for the study came from talking to different parties and it would now be a case of establishing if they wanted to be part of the project and contribute to it, Mr Findlater said.
"The EDA applied for funding to investigate opportunities in conjunction with companies involved in development of natural products but we've not yet pulled those people together," he said.
There were world leaders working in this region now – companies such as Nutrizeal and the Cawthron, which were exemplary in what they had achieved.
"We want to talk to the Cawthron and get them involved. There are lots of little things starting to bubble.
"We want to create opportunities for smaller operators to get better economies of scale in what they do, to allow them to develop," he said.
Nutrizeal in Appleby is an innovator and manufacturer of quality natural health products made of high-grade botanical and marine extracts.
It was established in 1995 and a decade later opened purpose-built manufacturing plants.
Managing director Richard Daniell was unable to comment on the proposal.
Cawthron chief executive Gillian Wratt said the concept sounded like an exciting opportunity for the wider industry, and Cawthron had the resources and capabilities to support development.
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"We do research for a whole range of private sector clients, so I don't see any particular issue with this being any different," Ms Wratt said.
"Sometimes we have to manage potential conflicts of interest, but if you want your science to be picked up and used, you have to deal with that."
Upper Moutere berryfruit farmer and Blackcurrants New Zealand director Philip Hyatt, who has followed closely the development of blackcurrant extracts into health supplements, said that while there was a reasonable amount of infrastructure in the region to support development of value-added products, getting out and getting started was extremely difficult and expensive.
An "incubator" sounded like a positive step, Mr Hyatt said.
"It takes a lot of horsepower to get under way and to get into countries where the product is not known. That's where the value of something like this could be," he said.
Tahunanui company Sujon Berryfruits, owned by Gibb Holdings, has ventured into the health food supplements industry and right now is supplying a blackcurrant powder that is being tested with the national basketball league squad.
Gibb Holdings general manager Bryce Lukes said product development within the company had benefited from NZTE funding for specific projects, and that a cluster-type scenario could present problems in terms of compatibility and competitiveness among different businesses.
But the concept could work in areas where the work being carried out did not conflict.
"It could be a case for a common product, such as in the apple or aquaculture industry," Mr Lukes said.
STRONG MEDICINE
The natural medicine industry in Nelson: 6 main companies in Brightwater, Appleby, Wakatu Estate.
Tahunanui Products: extracts of hops, mussels, propolis (bee product), botanicals
Combined revenues $25 million 120 full-time equivalent jobs.
Processes: carbon dioxide and ethanol extraction from primary source, freeze drying, milling, certified packaging and encapsulation.
Research partners: Cawthron, Plant & Food, Industrial Research Projected growth: Key players will quadruple revenues over next three to five years.
SOURCE: NZTE, Nelson Mail
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