AEGIC’s oat scientists were delighted to welcome Mr Xie Qingkui, founder of Seamild, for a tour and special oat noodle taste-test recently.
Seamild, China’s leading oats manufacturing company, has long recognised Australia as the number one source for high quality oats. Seamild sources raw oats from West Australian growers for processing and packaging in China.
In fact, Seamild values Australian oats so highly that it places Australia firmly at the heart of its marketing and advertising.
While visiting AEGIC Mr Xie had the opportunity to try AEGIC’s delicious oat noodles, as well as a tasty oat “rice” dish.
Mr Xie has long been passionate about the health benefits of oats, especially Australian oats. His feedback will be valuable as AEGIC continues to develop oat noodle and rice processing technologies for the Chinese market.
Background
AEGIC’s is developing ground-breaking high-percentage oat noodles aimed at the burgeoning Chinese market.
Our oat scientists are identifying Australian oat varieties suitable for emerging Chinese products, including oat noodles, oat rice and oat milk, as well as more established rolled oat products.
Chinese consumers are increasingly interested in incorporating healthier and more nutritious options into their staple foods, such as noodles and rice. Oats – especially Australian oats – have a great reputation in China because they are loaded with beta-glucan and other high-value nutrients.
Moving oats from the breakfast table to being a go-to option for lunch and dinner could create new value for oat growers. High quality milling oats can attract a premium of around $20/tonne. If Australia captured 50% of the expected future market growth, this could generate an extra $20 million each year for the Australian oats industry.
