October 18, 2017
Local beef producers should be celebrating … according to a new report, Australia is the leading supplier of red meat to the world and Australians eat more red meat than anyone else.
The Red Meat Advisory Council released their report, “State of the Industry 2017”, on Wednesday.
They say it is the first snapshot of the value of red meat industry to the Australian economy and community.
According to the report, in 2016, Australia was the largest exporter of beef and the second largest exporter of sheep meat; and the world’s third largest livestock exporter.
Not only does Australia lead the world in selling meat, Australians are some of the highest consumers of red meat in the world, eating four times the average amount of beef and six times the amount of sheep meat compared with the global average.
RMAC chairman Don Mackay said the report demonstrated the key part red meat plays in the Australian economic success story.
“No industry has a more important place in society than an industry that feeds its people and sustains and improves their way of life,” Mr Mackay said.
“We have achieved turnover growth of 11 per cent, contributed $18 billion to Australian GDP, sustain 405,000 direct and indirect jobs and feed 24 million Australians day in and day out.
“Our industry continues to work for our rural and regional jobs, accounting for almost a quarter of agrifood jobs in Australia.”
The report shows the value of Australian red meat and livestock exports increased by almost $6 billion over the past five years from $9.2 billion in 2011-12 to $15.1 billion in 2015-16.
“The reality is despite an incredibly challenging environment out there, we’ve seen a 5 per cent growth in businesses across the chain, there are more processing businesses now than four years ago and we’ve seen a 48 per cent rise in saleyard prices,” Mr Mackay said.
The report also showed that goat meat has experienced a significant boom with Australia now a leading supplier of global goat meat, enjoying a recent price rise of 177 per cent and exporting more than 27,000 tonnes of goat in 2016 alone.
The report was commissioned by Meat & Livestock Australia at the request of RMAC and compiled by Ernst & Young.
The full report is available online
