May 28, 2004

EU Prices For Australian Beef To Rise

Australian cattle producers who grow beef for the European Union should see prices rise in coming weeks, as exporters rush to fill quotas before the end of the financial year.

Peter Weeks from Meat and Livestock Australia says the market's already rising for most categories of export cattle, but there is likely to be a price spike early next week for EU cattle.

"The EU quota year ends at the end of June, which means that cattle bought to fill individual exporters quota would really have to be purchased in the next week or so in order to get onto a ship and get across to the EU."

And in Queensland, prices for Japanese steers have already jumped between 20 and 25 cents a kilo in the past three weeks.