Claypave wins premier's export award

CLAYPAVE PTY LTD of Dinmore was tonight named the winner of the 1999 Small to Medium Manufacturer Award by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie in this year's Premier of Queensland's Awards for Export Achievement.

Mr Beattie congratulated all 91 entrants for boosting Queensland's exports, as well as the winners of the 10 award categories, at a gala presentation dinner at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre tonight.

"All entrants in this year's Awards deserve the congratulations and appreciation of all Queenslanders for increasing their export sales and therefore increasing job opportunities," said Mr Beattie.

"Their collective enterprise, determination and achievements against world wide competition, represent export earnings exceeding $1.3 billion for Queensland.

"$17 billion of the State's gross domestic product is generated by the export of Queensland goods and services and generates thousands of jobs for Queenslanders."

Claypave's success was in part due to their identifying niche markets in Japan and developing specialised paving products.

It increased its export business from 2% to 30% of total sales in six years by combining increased strength with lighter weight, strong customer focus and sales support, and the employment of Japanese-speaking staff.

Winners of other Awards :

Large Manufacturer

EGR (Salisbury, Brisbane)

Automobile accessories and point-of-sale display systems are the core activities of Brisbane light plastic manufacturer, EGR. Employing 600 staff world-wide, EGR's extensive range of products generates income approaching $100 million annually.

Forty-five percent or revenue is gained from exports to North and Central America, Europe and New Zealand while EGR's point of sale display products are exported to China, Europe and Africa

Emerging Exporter

POLY OPTICS AUSTRALIA Pty Ltd (Gold Coast)

Poly Optics designs, manufactures and installs highly sophisticated solid core fibre optic cable and lighting systems.

The company now exports a full range of fibre optic systems to customers around the world and recently won the world's largest fibre optic contract lighting a 60-story building in Hong Kong.

Minerals

NEWLANDS COAL PTY LTD (Bowen Basin CQ)

Despite a weak world coal market and declining prices, NEWLANDS COAL achieved a 215% increase in profit from its Bowen Basin operation.

A subsidiary of Mount Isa Mines, the company also increased production by 53% and export revenue by 48% and was the first Australian mine to break the 500,000 tonnes a month barrier for longwall underground mine production.

Agribusiness

GRAINCO AUSTRALIA LTD (Toowoomba)

A clear vision of the future and the implementation of strategies to achieve its goals has marked another successful year for GRAINCO AUSTRALIA.

Diversification of activities including non grain commodities, drought protection strategies and the continued growth of subsidiary bulk carrier Globex International, contributed to GRAINCO Australia's expansion and export growth.

Exports rose 42% in 1998/99 and now account for 21.4% of GRAINCO's revenues. Information Industries

SOFTLINK INTERNATIONAL (Springwood, Brisbane) From modest beginnings in 1984, this Brisbane-based computer software company now exports its highly specialised programs to 70 countries.

With a specialisation in library management systems, SOFTLINK INTERNATIONAL has become one of the world's largest suppliers of library automation software, including such programs as OASIS, ALARM and ALICE for Windows.

Export sales have grown from 24 % to 69% of total revenue including a spectacular 112% increase last year.

Education

GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY (Nathan, Brisbane)

The adoption of pro-active marketing policies and positive product development away from a strictly `services' perspective, has been an outstanding success for Griffith University in attracting increased numbers of international students to its campus.

As well as lifting international student numbers, Griffith has also increased the diversity of countries from which they come from 43 to 70.

13% of Griffith University's students now come from overseas, a near 22% increase over 1998.

Arts/Entertainment

AURAN HOLDINGS PTY LTD

A winner in this category last year, AURAN HOLDINGS PTY LTD has once again recorded another year of export success.

Designer and manufacturer of `state of the art' technology in the highly competitive international video games industry, Brisbane-based AURAN with its highly creative concept and design team, has been a global success story almost from its inception and is a recognised market leader in its field. Services

CULLEN GRUMMITT & ROE GROUP

This year marks yet another Export Awards success for this Brisbane-based engineering consultancy which now enjoys an international reputation for the design of port facilities and related infrastructure.

Judged the winner in the Services category in last year's Awards, Cullen Grummitt & Roe Group have continued to expand their international customer base including two complex projects completed in this year in Turkey and Sri Lanka.

Export Support

QUEENSLAND HORTICULTURAL INSTITUTE

Based in Cairns, the Queensland Horticultural Institute has been successful in developing highly innovative techniques in insect and plant disease eradication.

The application of these procedures to a variety of Queensland fruits and vegetables has opened up highly lucrative export markets, including Japan and New Zealand, previously closed to Queensland horticultural produce.

The work of the Queensland Horticultural Institute against the recent fruit fly infestation has indirectly generated more than $12 million worth of exports for Queensland. end

CONTACT: John Lyneham Public Relations Tel 3892 7733 Fax 3892 7744