SUGGESTIONS there will be a breakdown in beef supply chains due to the increased supply of cattle forecast for this year do not stack up against recent experience, the head of the country's most influential red meat body told a senate estimates hearing in Canberra last week.
Meat & Livestock Australia's managing director Jason Strong fielded questions during the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee hearing about his organisation's forecasts that the herd is on track to reach its highest level since the 1970s by 2025.
He said Australian beef's relationships with international markets were much more sophisticated than they had ever been before.
End users were largely focussed on purchasing high-quality, consistent product.
The flow-on from that sort of sophistication, Mr Strong indicated, was a built-in resilience.
During the drought of 2018/19, Australia processed more than eight million head - the largest turn-off seen in recent history, but livestock prices remained at or above five-year averages, he said.
"So there is nothing to support those comments," he said.
ALSO READ: Cattle market holds up despite big yardings
Mr Strong said the growth in the herd currently underway was the result of both increased productivity and good seasonal conditions.
"We've had a lot more rain and grass growth, which has increased the productivity of our herd and flock," he said.
"We have also had a lower turn-off. Our processing numbers last year were just over six million cattle.
"The measure which is used as an indicator of whether we are in a rebuild or liquidation period is the proportion of slaughter that is female - 47 per cent is used as the bellwether and over that we are liquidating.
"It's under 40pc now, so we are well in growth."
Mr Strong said the Australian beef industry had a fantastic track record of responding to "pretty much any challenge and this is just another one."
Already, evidence of that response is showing, with 108,000 head slaughtered in recent single weeks, the highest number since the middle of 2020.
While the major growth opportunities for Australian beef was coming from export markets, Mr Strong said domestic consumers remained the largest individual market, with 25pc of product sold on home ground.
Here, kilograms per capita consumption had been in long-term gradual decline, but Australia remains one of the largest per capita beef consumers in the world.
"In all the consumer sentiment work we do, the big driver of that decline is price," Mr Strong said.
Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
