Australian beef and sheep meat exports have started the year strongly with beef exports in January up 41 per cent year-on-year and lamb and mutton exports the highest on record for the month of January.
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The Australian red meat industry's sales and marketing team are also gearing up for an active year.
With the exportable surplus for 2024 of beef and sheepmeat forecast to be higher than last year, it will all need to find a home on the global market maximising the return with both existing and new customers.
While government agencies like Austrade and industry entities like Meat & Livestock Australia make valuable contributions to the international marketing of Australian red meat, none of these entities can or does any selling.
That is all done by the sales and marketing teams of the processing and export sector and it takes time, costs money and requires perseverance, the building of strong customer relationships, the development of in-market knowledge and, for the best returns, brand based customised product specifications.
Trade fairs are an important part of any export sales strategy as they provide a great vehicle for reconnecting with established customers where they come to you, not you always going to them.
It also provides for the targeting of new customers and following up on new leads.
Trade fairs provide the opportunity for product displays and to discuss specifications and any refinements that best meet customer requirements.
They are also a valuable opportunity to discuss market trends with in-market sources you might not otherwise be able to discuss these with over the phone or by email. It's also a great time to check what the international competition is doing.
Planning is well underway for a strong Australian red meat trade presence at a number of major international trade events in the coming months.
Analysts suggest that in any one week, there can be up to 20 red meat company representatives in the air travelling to some part of the world as part of the industry's sales team. When it comes to one of the major trade fairs, that number can double.
Some of the immediate focus includes:
- Dubai - Gulf Food - February 19 to 23, the largest food and beverage trade fair in the Middle East.
- Japan - Foodex - March 5 -8 in Tokyo - Over 2500 food and beverage companies from 60 countries.
- India - New Delhi - March 7 to 11 with the opportunities that Australia's new trade agreement with India may provide.
- Vietnam - Food and Hospitality Vietnam - March 19 to 21
- Singapore - Food & Hotel Asia - April 23 to 26 - the largest food and beverage trade fair in Asia outside China.
- China - SIAL Shanghai - May 28 - 30- Asia's largest food and beverage show. They expect 5000 exhibitors and up to 150,000 trade visitors.
- Korea - Seoul Food - June 11 to 14 - capturing post pandemic trends.
The competition on the global market can be fierce, especially on price.
Maintaining Australia's technical superiority and quality reputation by staying on top of the latest innovations and trends is also an important but costly component of international success.
The January International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta in the United States boasted 1400 exhibitors across all proteins - another trade event for finding solutions to enhance meat processing operations.
There are around 75 export registered red meat processing facilities in Australia but not every plant has its own marketing team. Some are multi-plant operators while some specialise in processing and sell to others.
Australia is in a unique position on the global stage of also having a group of highly experienced non packer exporters. These are exporters who don't own their own processing facilities but purchase ex-the-works in Australia and use their in-market experience to specialise.
This is especially the case in less traditional markets where the NPE's in-market knowledge can be balanced against any increased risk that a packer by himself may not accept. This aspect of Australia's export meat business is quite advanced relative to other global suppliers and is one reason why we remain such a successful exporter across such a range of export markets.
The pre-farmgate sector can sometimes focus on the levies they contribute through entities like MLA and not realise what costs are incurred by the processing and export sector in giving effect to our export sales.
Airfares and other travel costs, accommodation, supply chain management, product samples, trade fair display costs, hosting key customers, reviewing product specifications, quota management, brand and technical support all add up.
Sometimes market reports seem to convey a sense that exports just happen.
Previous industry studies have estimated that the processing and export sector in facilitating Australia's red meat export success can be spending as much if not more on marketing on top of any industry levies collected.
That assessment is before we identify how much of those levies themselves already come from processors who own the livestock concerned when the transaction levy is paid.
The industry should be proud of its experienced and dedicated sales team.
Brazil invades the US
Before Brazil re-entered the US beef market in 2021, the "Other Country" beef quota in the US of 65,005 tonnes was rarely if ever filled in any one year.
Since Brazil's re-entry, they have swamped the quota, (their only preferential tariff access to the US) squeezing out other potential suppliers and in the process having an impact on the lean beef market in the US.
We now see that over 86pc of the quota for 2024 has already been used in just 6 weeks, to February 12, and is likely to be fully utilised over the next week - the quickest ever.
Brazil shipped over 150,000 tonnes of beef to the US last year.
