September 24, 2007

Australian beef sales up in August

Beef wholesalers across Australia reported substantially improved beef sales but subdued lamb sales in August compared to the same period last year, according to data collected by Millward Brown on behalf of Meat and Livestock Australia.

The data reports 90 percent of wholesalers reported "good" to "excellent" sales, compared with only 67 percent in August 2006. No respondents thought beef sales were "poor" in the latest survey; however, in August 2006, 20 percent rated their sales of beef as "poor".

Respondents in contrast were not satisfied their lamb sales, with only 55 percent reporting "good" to "excellent" sales during August, compared with 73 percent the same time last year. Over the month, more wholesalers (20 percent) rated their sales as "fair", compared with only 13 percent last year. In addition, 20 percent could not say how well their sales of lamb were during August.

For supply concerns, 50 percent of respondents encountered more problems, and 50 percent reported no problems ¡§C only 27 percent noted problems with supply in August 2006. The main reasons given for the increased problems were the drought and export demand.