{"id":522101,"date":"2026-03-06T08:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T08:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/522101\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T08:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T08:19:15","slug":"chaos-for-australian-food-exports-as-middle-east-conflict-disrupts-transportation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/522101\/","title":{"rendered":"Chaos for Australian food exports as Middle East conflict disrupts transportation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian fresh food producers have been swept up in the conflict in the Middle East, with tonnes of product left sitting in cool rooms.<\/p>\n

Adelaide-based The Yoghurt Shop’s biggest export market is the Middle East, supplying to supermarkets across the region and providing in-flight meals for airlines including Qatar and Emirates.<\/p>\n

While passengers have been stranded across Australia, companies like The Yoghurt Shop have been scrambling to ensure perishable products get to consumers.<\/p>\n

\"Food,<\/p>\n

The Yoghurt Shop products are served on Emirates flights.\u00a0 (Supplied: The Yoghurt Shop)<\/p>\n

Chief operating officer Brandon Reynolds said he was shocked by the conflict, but priorities quickly shifted to trying to get the yoghurt transported.<\/p>\n

“On a Friday each week, we prepare a lot of our export orders to head to that region and trucks headed to Melbourne to board various flights,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It quickly became evident that they weren’t going to go anywhere.<\/p>\n

“Over Sunday and Monday our customers started reaching out thick and fast to suspend [their orders] and explain that they weren’t sure what was going to happen.<\/p>\n

“We wouldn’t be able to get the stock there.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Murray Bridge farmer Karen Altmann with Brandon Reynolds. \u00a0 (Supplied: The Yoghurt Shop)<\/p>\n

Tonnes of stock<\/p>\n

Mr Reynolds said the disrupted orders included the first deliveries to new customers in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

“We had around $20,000 [worth of product] just dedicated to one retailer in the UAE, which is a significant amount of product,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said the company was also preparing orders to ship from Adelaide to Kuwait.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, the yoghurt has been stored in chilled warehouses, where teams will decide today what to do with it.<\/p>\n

“If it doesn’t make its way to [the Middle East], we will have to discount and get it out into our retail partners in the country so it won’t go to waste,” Mr Reynolds said.<\/p>\n

\"Wet<\/p>\n

Carrots are among the vegetables exported to the Middle East. (ABC News: Jessica Hayes)<\/p>\n

Not only has yoghurt been impacted.<\/p>\n

AUSVEG’s Andrew MacDonald said the Australian vegetable industry sent almost 60,000 tonnes to the Middle East each year \u2014 about 35 per cent of the overall vegetable export volume.<\/p>\n

He said last year the value of the Middle East market was about $53 million, and included carrots, onions and potatoes.<\/p>\n

“In the immediate term, it’s probably unlikely those consignments will be able to be diverted into other export channels,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It may also mean that this produce has to be absorbed into the domestic market too.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Yoghurt Shop products are stocked at Spinneys in Dubai. (Supplied: The Yoghurt Shop)<\/p>\n

No clear end in sight<\/p>\n

The Yoghurt Shop is expecting to take a hit to its business while the conflict continues and orders cannot be delivered.<\/p>\n

“Our investment in the region is, at the moment, looking a bit shaky,” Mr Reynolds said.<\/p>\n

“What we’re waiting for is a quick outcome \u2026 but we’re also preparing for a longer-term delay.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hamish McIntyre says growers are exposed to geopolitical disruptions. (Supplied: National Farmers’ Federation)<\/p>\n

National Farmers’ Federation president and Queensland farmer, Hamish McIntyre, said the conflict highlighted how farmers were at the “mercy of geopolitical tensions”.<\/p>\n

“Livestock exports have been disrupted and we expect farmers will soon face higher fuel and fertiliser prices,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Historically, not enough work has been done to understand and plan for these vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n

“We believe the [federal] government must explore all options to understand and protect local food and fibre production against vulnerabilities like global conflict.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Andrew MacDonald says the Middle East is a major export market for vegetables. (Supplied: AUSVEG)<\/p>\n

Mr MacDonald said it was still unclear how the conflict would impact prices.<\/p>\n

“Growers will be doing what they can to find markets and buyers for their produce,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But just at the minute we are facing this volatile, uncertain and highly disruptive situation.”<\/p>\n

Mr Reynolds was confident business would resume once trade to the Middle East reopened.<\/p>\n

“We’re not worried about being able to regain that business when flights reopen,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We have a consumer base there that’s really enjoyed buying our yoghurt week in, week out.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian fresh food producers have been swept up in the conflict in the Middle East, with tonnes of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,6901,15329,15330,11054,5575,12241,6900,170606],"class_list":["post-522101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-conflict","tag-emirates","tag-emirates-airline","tag-exports","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-war","tag-yoghurt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}