The ability of supermarkets, pharmacies and groups such as HelloFresh to supply products to meet the needs of Australia’s booming population in coming years will require a significant investment in new refrigerated warehouses, a report from CBRE has warned.

Refrigerated or cold storage warehouses are specialist temperature-controlled facilities used to house fresh foods, frozen products and pharmaceuticals. They form the supply chain backbone of Australia’s $8 billion cold chain logistics sector, alongside specialist cold transport such as refrigerated trucks, rail cars and ships.