Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Argentine beef producers have halted supply to domestic markets after the Argentine government attempted to rein in inflation on food by imposing export taxes and price controls.
InvestorTV spoke to Meat and Livestock Australia’s chief analyst Peter Weeks about what the effects of the strike on Australia’s export beef industry.
“What the farmers are doing is blockading agricultural products from getting to market, as well as, in many cases, just not taking them off farm anyway,” Mr Weeks said.
“So basically they’re withdrawing product from sale in the cities at this stage, pending some sort of agreement with the government. The ramifications we’re seeing at the moment is a pretty strong growth in demand in Europe, particularly in the EU and in Russia.
“We are seeing strong growth through South-East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
“All those are countries that were not necessarily taking in Argentine product but they were certainly taking a large amount of South American beef, so with Argentine product basically being withdrawn from world markets and at the same time having less Uruguayan product and Brazilian product available just at the moment, it means prices have gone up quite sharply in Russia, Europe, the Middle East and throughout some of those smaller Asian markets as well.”
The Australian export beef industry has experienced strong growth across a range of markets as beef importing countries seek alternative sources.
“The growth in exports in the first three months of this year, to the Commonwealth of Independent States - basically Russia – that has grown by over 1000 per cent since last year,” Mr Weeks said.
“It’s gone from only 370 tonnes to almost 5000 tonnes in the first three months of this year. So that’s a huge growth.
“We’ve seen growth of 250 per cent to the Philippines over that period. To the European Union we’ve seen growth of 140 per cent and then you go down to some of the other markets; Hong Kong has doubled, Singapore’s gone up 80 per cent, so there’s a fair sweep of markets there that are taking a lot more and that’s principally due to, well it’s certainly due to a shortage of South American product, but Argentina’s certainly part of that story.”
InvestorTV spoke to Meat and Livestock Australia’s chief analyst Peter Weeks about what the effects of the strike on Australia’s export beef industry.
“What the farmers are doing is blockading agricultural products from getting to market, as well as, in many cases, just not taking them off farm anyway,” Mr Weeks said.
“So basically they’re withdrawing product from sale in the cities at this stage, pending some sort of agreement with the government. The ramifications we’re seeing at the moment is a pretty strong growth in demand in Europe, particularly in the EU and in Russia.
“We are seeing strong growth through South-East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
“All those are countries that were not necessarily taking in Argentine product but they were certainly taking a large amount of South American beef, so with Argentine product basically being withdrawn from world markets and at the same time having less Uruguayan product and Brazilian product available just at the moment, it means prices have gone up quite sharply in Russia, Europe, the Middle East and throughout some of those smaller Asian markets as well.”
The Australian export beef industry has experienced strong growth across a range of markets as beef importing countries seek alternative sources.
“The growth in exports in the first three months of this year, to the Commonwealth of Independent States - basically Russia – that has grown by over 1000 per cent since last year,” Mr Weeks said.
“It’s gone from only 370 tonnes to almost 5000 tonnes in the first three months of this year. So that’s a huge growth.
“We’ve seen growth of 250 per cent to the Philippines over that period. To the European Union we’ve seen growth of 140 per cent and then you go down to some of the other markets; Hong Kong has doubled, Singapore’s gone up 80 per cent, so there’s a fair sweep of markets there that are taking a lot more and that’s principally due to, well it’s certainly due to a shortage of South American product, but Argentina’s certainly part of that story.”
