Investment in food, beverage and agribusiness (FB&A) will move into a new stage in 2026. In our view, this era will be driven by businesses that can best manage integration, execution and resilience.
After a decade of rapid land-price appreciation, returns have plateaued, and are now increasingly driven by performance, not price growth. Investment is now focused all the way across the broader FB&A supply chain.
{video}
A range of structural forces are driving this shift. Food insecurity is a growing consideration, geopolitical issues continue to grow, and supply-chain disruption remains front of mind only half a decade post the COVID period.
At the same time, demand continues to rise – for meat, grains, oils and a wide range of staple foods, particularly in regional Asian markets.
Capital is responding by moving beyond production alone. Investment is flowing into processing, storage, logistics and the infrastructure that can efficiently connect farms to customers.
In our view
ANZ has experts based in close to 30 markets in the Asia-Pacific region and around the globe. Our new series, In our view, aims to bring that expertise directly to you, providing the ideas you need to succeed in your area of business in an era of uncertainty and opportunity.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing forward-looking insights into themes such as the macroeconomy, digitisation, and shifting realities of trade, helping businesses position themselves to take advantage of these trends.
Be sure to follow ANZ Institutional on LinkedIn to stay up to date.
In this world, businesses that can better connect processing to the customer will become more attractive for investment, both in Australia and offshore. And not just because they're bigger and producing volume, but because they are better positioned to manage costs, reliability and risk.
This approach is likely to reward operators that think in systems rather than silos, and that understand how value is created across the whole supply chain, not just at a single point.
Michael Whitehead is Executive Director, FB&A Insights at ANZ
