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Global meat production is expected to grow at a slower pace over the next decade than the one before, with the poultry sector driving the deceleration, according to a new agricultural outlook report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Meat production growth is projected to slow to 1.6 percent compared with growth of 2.3 percent in the previous decade.
Growth will be constrained by higher input costs and competing demand for land and water from alternative crops, the report said.
The Australian beef machine is well placed to sell much more beef directly into U.S. markets.
That’s according to Texas-based beef industry analyst Don Close, Rabobank’s U.S. vice president of animal protein research, who addressed the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association’s (IFAMA) Sydney, Australia, chapter beef forum.
Close said that while the U.S. is keen to seize export opportunities in Asia (notably China) and Europe, its beef herd is now the smallest in 60 years, largely because of soaring production costs.
A foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination campaign for Argentina’s Chaco region began in March, the National Service for Animal Health and Quality, and the Ministry of Production have confirmed.
A 60-day inoculation program was launched in March across all livestock units in the province, including beef and dairy cattle breeding stock and all classes of buffalo.
The vaccination plan will also include brucellosis vaccination of 3-month-old to 8-month-old calves.
In order to reduce greenhouse gases and to sustain the environment, Swedish agricultural authorities are suggesting a tax to tame the nation’s appetite for meat.
They assert that as more meat is consumed, the more feed is needed to meet this demand, and with global feed shortages they’re suggesting a meat tax could be a viable solution to curbing meat demand.
Growing global demand for protein, combined with depreciating South American currencies, assisted the Mercosur countries, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay (which is currently suspended) and Uruguay to substantially improve beef exports in 2012. Overall, exports were up 12 percent year-on-year to 1.5 million metric tons (MT).
The Brazilian real depreciated 14 percent year-on-year in 2012, and combined with increased Brazilian production, assisted the price competitiveness of Brazilian beef on the global market.
Brazilian beef exports increased a whopping 15 percent year-on-year to 945,482 MT, with Russia the major market accounting for 27 percent of total exports.
Australian beef prices are poised to take another hit as producers prepare for a long, hot summer.
Benchmark price indicators closed out 2012 down nearly 30 percent below 2011’s closing figures.
According to the latest Rabobank beef report, beef prices are the lowest since February 2010.
Australian beef exports to Russia have been slow in 2012, with shipments for the first 10 months of 2012 to 29,939 metric tons (MT), down 40 percent year-on-year.
But while Australian exports to Russia were sluggish throughout 2012, the Russian imported beef market heated up as the year progressed.
By the end of September, Russian beef imports totaled 468,292 MT, 2 percent higher than the same period last year.
As government agencies in Canada planned to reopen a beef packing plant at the center of an E. coli outbreak and beef recall, another meat company in southern Alberta has ramped up production using workers from the same union.
The Cargill plant in High River added a Saturday shift recently and has been operating six days a week while XL Foods Lakeside in Brooks had its license suspended by food safety inspectors.
Beef exports from the European Union (EU) during the first seven months of 2012 fell by 41 percent year-on-year, totaling 113,856 metric tons (MT).
EU beef exports spiked in 2011 as a weak euro and strong international demand, in particular from Turkey and Russia, drove exports higher.
However, a reduced supply of EU beef so far in 2012, combined with reduced demand in several markets, has hit export volumes this year.
Although a relatively small market for Australia compared to the U.S., Japan and Korea, the European Union remains the highest value export market for Australian beef on a per-ton basis.
The EU has historically been a large importer of beef, supplementing local production, of which 50 percent comes from the continent’s dairy herd.
