July 30, 2007

Stable demand for Australian red meat

Retail sales for red meat remains steady this year, based on retail servings abd butcher sale indicators gathered by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA). Assisting sales has been lower average red meat prices in the six months to June, compared with the same time last year, along with the appreciating A$ and associated weaker export sales which has positively influenced the availability of red meat in Australia.

Beef still leads the pack as it accounted for 33.8 percent-- or 42.9 million serves per week-- of total fresh meat serves for the five months to May 2007, compared to 34.2 percent share pr 45.8 million serves per week from the same period last week. Lamb's share was 18.8 percent (23.9 million serves per week) compared with an 18.9 percent share (25.3 million serves per week) for the same period last year.

The MLA's monthly butcher survey also show beef sales were generally the strongest over the six months to June (65 percent noting good to very good results), followed by lamb and chicken, with 62 percent and 59 percent of butchers, respectively, noting good to very good results. Pork was the worst performer, according to the survey, with sales mainly "good" (40 percent) to "fair" (24 percent)

Slight fall was also registered in retail prices for beef and lamb over the year. Consumer price index figures released by the Australia Bureau of Statistics suggest that over the June quarter, beef and veal prices were 1.3 percent below June quarter 2006 values, similarly, lamb and mutton prices were around 1 percent below the same quarter last year.

The average price for beef and veal over the first six months of this year was $15.30/kg, 1.8 percent lower than last year. Over the same period, the average price of lamb was 12.06/kg - down 1 percent.