THE weather has ideally set beef producers up for a productive spring, with studs primed for rewarding bull sales.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Now they’re just hoping cattle prices will swing upward in their favour also.
Walwa’s Mike Gadd, principal of The Glen and chairman of Angus Australia, believes the time has come for prices to lift.
He notes the droughts of the past 15 years, the bushfires and floods have challenged producers in a major way.
“But really it is time we got a better price for our product and that would help a lot of people in the bush,” Mr Gadd said.
South East Asian beef market expert Dr Ross Ainsworth this week said that the history of the global beef market — meaning the past 40 years — is currently “changing forever” and that rapidly rising prices should be expected.
“Put simply, the world has experienced an oversupply of beef since the early ’70s, which has resulted in constantly deteriorating returns for beef producers,” Dr Ainsworth said.
“Australia has suffered more than any other significant producer country because we rely on the global export market for about 70 per cent of our annual production.
“After generations of depressing returns from beef production, supply is finally unable to match demand because world production is roughly static while world consumption continues to grow quickly, led by China.
“Prices are not defying logic, on the contrary, they are following it beautifully.”
Dr Ainsworth said the Australian price correction was likely to be even more dramatic than what has been seen in the US.
“So the next decent wet season in Queensland should herald the end of Australian beef history as we know it,” he said.
Mr Gadd said he hoped such predictions were right, given prices have hovered over $2 per kilogram for nearly 20 years and that, in the meantime, costs have more than doubled.
“We need a significant lift long term for farming to become more viable,” he said.
“It’s bound to happen soon and we’re looking forward to it.”