The Brewers Association of Australia CEO, Amanda Watson, has stepped down from the role. Watson, who became CEO in July 2025, said she was pursuing a different career direction.

Australian Food Pact signatories generated $12 million in additional revenue in 2025 by converting unsold food into higher-value outcomes, including new product development and commercial redistribution, according to End Food Waste Australia.

Melbourne-born functional lifestyle beverage brand, Bae Juice, has continued to reach for the stars since starting out in 2019, with the company recording one of its biggest seasons yet – selling one pack of its anti-hangover Korean pear juice every 12 seconds in December 2026.

In response to the sector challenges laid out in 2024’s One Grape & Wine Sector Plan, Wine Australia has created the Australian Wine Future Fund, designed to increase funding pathways for fast-tracking innovations addressing the industry’s most critical challenges.

Three years after Australia walked away from free trade negotiations with the European Union, Canberra and Brussels appear to be edging back toward an endgame on an Australia–EU Free Trade Agreement (A-EU FTA).

Australia’s position in the Harvard Economic Complexity Index (ECI) has just received a significant boost, moving from 105th to 74th place out of the 145 countries assessed, but it is due to a recalibration of calculation methodology rather than a meaningful change in capability.

Seedlab Australia has launched a new national sponsorship for a Churchill Fellowship focused on food and beverage innovation, with the opportunity to be offered nationally from 2026 for five years.

Maggie Beer Holdings (MBH) has accelerated a strategic review of its Hampers & Gifts Australia (HGA) division following unsolicited and non-binding approaches from external parties.

The Western Australian government is investing $6 million to grow the state’s wine industry, through a new four-year partnership with Wines of Western Australia.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Coles have levelled up in the Federal Court over the ACCC’s accusation the retailer misled consumers through its “down, down” pricing program on hundreds of products.

The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) has upgraded its FY26 outlook after delivering stronger first-half growth across infant milk formula (IMF), liquid milk and nutritionals.

Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) has reported a loss of $649.4 million in its 1H26, due to the large non-cash impairment of $770.5 million against its US business and ongoing challenging market conditions.

US-based bioalternatives scale-up platform, Manus, has opened its new, purpose-built application hub in Singapore to support customers and partners across the Asia-Pacific region.

Australia’s food ministers have voted to begin the process of making the Health Star Rating (HSR) system mandatory on eligible packaged foods, after new monitoring showed the voluntary scheme fell well short of its agreed uptake target and has struggled to build consistent consumer confidence.

South-east Melbourne’s largest speculative cold storage facility has been launched to the leasing market, with Hale Capital Partners’ 27,291sqm “Adapt” project at Oakleigh South targeting completion in December 2026.

Asahi Beverages and Toll Group have launched what they describe as Australia’s largest single-location electric “route-to-market” heavy vehicle fleet, rolling out five battery-electric rigid trucks to service metropolitan beverage deliveries across Perth.