August 24, 2004

Australian Beef Too Dependent On Domestic And Asian Markets

Beef producers are being warned that Australia is relying too much on a handful of markets, namely locally and in Asia.

In its mid-year forecast, Meat and Livestock Australia says prices and exports of beef are at historic highs.

But MLA's Peter Weekes says that will be corrected when the United States gains BSE-clearance and re-enters the market.

"We're now sending about 93 per cent of all our production to only four markets: domestic, Japan, Korea and US. And we're finding the price difference between markets outside and those markets that we're now serving is so great. If we had any interruption to those markets, we'd find our prices falling quite sharply."