NSW Premier Mike Baird has congratulated NSW export award winners for their entrepreneurship and the role they play in supporting Australia’s strongest state economy.

The 2016 Premier’s NSW Export Awards were hosted tonight by the Export Council of Australia, showcasing the state’s top exporters across 22 categories.

Mr Baird congratulated vitamin and health supplement manufacturer Blackmores for taking out the coveted NSW Exporter of the Year award.

“Exporters are critical to the state’s economic prospects and I congratulate the incredible growth of Blackmores. It’s great to see a company that originated on the Northern Beaches achieve growth on a global scale,” Mr Baird said.

“There is strong global demand for our goods and services and I congratulate Blackmores and all of tonight’s winners for helping promote the NSW brand overseas.

“NSW exports $63 billion worth of goods and services a year and it’s our export led-growth that makes our State the engineroom of the Australian economy,” he said.

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres encouraged other NSW businesses to look at expanding overseas and continue the State’s success story.

“The weaker Australian dollar, Free Trade Agreements with Japan, South Korea and China, improved economic conditions in the UK and US, combined with NSW’s strong reputation for high quality goods and services make now the perfect time to crack global markets.”

Chief Executive Officer of the Export Council of Australia (ECA) Lisa McAuley said, as a leading advocate for international trade, the ECA is honoured to once again run the statewide competition where nominees secure their reputation on the world stage.

“Acknowledging exporters is vital in building awareness of new market opportunities available to business owners. NSW companies are exporting their goods and services with excellent results and now is the time to focus on building Australia’s trade capabilities and encouraging more companies to look at the global opportunities that are opening up,” she said.