Josef Chromy: An Expert Vintage
Joe’s Insights
First export
Chromy’s first export was in 1978, exporting lamb carcasses to the Middle East. Though a live trade had existed for some time, Chromy was among the first in Australia to find markets that would accept carcasses.
Biggest challenge
In addition to the generic challenges of distance and lack of scale in Tasmania, Chromy’s biggest export challenges were penetrating highly protected, and often quota restricted, markets like Japan. An example of this from the early 1980s was the virtually impossible restrictions on salted beef imports into Japan. However, there was a loophole for beef with over five percent salt content because it is considered inedible to humans at that concentration.
Chromy experimented in secret and after many months came up with a successful method of infusing the salt to the right consistency. He subsequently shipped many hundreds of containers and was the only Australian exporter never to have a shipment rejected. The heavily salted beef was then made palatable by blending with unsalted product already there.
Biggest success
Chromy’s biggest success was at the other end of the quality scale—exporting prime pasture-fed marbled beef into Japan. This success was achieved by taking a paddock-to-plate approach including:
- Working very closely with the farmers who grew animals that were always either under their mothers or on lush green pastures. The northwest of Tasmania is a rare environment where this can be done.
- Rigorous product grading using seven criteria including colour, texture, marbling etc.
- Building a direct supply relationship with a major Japanese supermarket chain with frequent visits ‘back to the paddock’ by the buyers and ‘up to the consumer’ by Chromy and his team. This approach led to exports of more than $20 million per annum of this very high value product.
Advice for today’s exporters
Chromy says: “Build relationships as close to the end customer as possible. Seek feedback and act on it. Exceed customer expectations—a very common fault in marketing is over promising then under delivering.”
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