February 9, 2004

Indian Buffalo As Alternative To Expensive Australian Beef

Consumers in Malaysia are increasingly turning to Indian buffalo as the strong Australian dollar continues to push up beef prices.

As Australia's fourth largest market, Malaysia is considered a growth area, importing 90,000 head of cattle last year.

But David Inall, from Meat and Livestock Australia, says at less than one third the cost of Australian meat, 85 per cent of all of consumption in Malaysia is now buffalo beef.

"Well, the reports we've heard out of Malaysia are that once it gets to about 15 ringgit; in Malaysia it's ringgit's per kilo; that's when consumers will look at alternatives. Now presently, Australian product is 18 to 20 ringgit per kilo, but we've been hearing that frozen Indian buffalo beef can be retailing for as low as 4 ringgit per kilo; they have a very large herd in India and obviously very cheap processing and transport costs."