Beef in the box seat

Attendees at last month's Engaging Asia forum in Brisbane also heard Signature Beef owner and Trade and Investment Queensland board member Josie Angus say that beef was entering a new period of trade that would transform the industry.

Then last week it was the turn of ANZ's state agribusiness manager Jeff Schrale to tell beef producers at Clermont they were in the box seat to cater to China's growing middle class. Mr Schrale said the caveat to this exciting prospect was the need to understand the marketing side of the beef business in order to attract capital to meet the expansion that will be needed.

Held alongside the successful beef expo at Clermont, where graziers looked at ways to change property practices to meet the challenge of rising costs, ANZ's approach was one of being ready to take advantage of steadily rising demand.

The figures surrounding China's expanding interest are compelling. In the 1960s the US's annual agricultural turn-over was $110 billion and China's $65b.

By 2010 China was turning over $539b compared with the US at $238b.

"There's an enormous growth in demand but not a lot of countries putting their hands up to supply that. This is a good news story," Mr Schrale said.

He forecast a 30 per cent rise in beef prices in the April-June 2015 quarter, assuming there was good general rain this summer.

"The US numbers are staggering - heifers are costing $3000 for restockers.

"We expect a similar thing to play out in Australia, if we get rain."

Chilled beef imports to China have been rising, from 3864 carcase weight tonnes to 54,000 tonnes in the past 12 months on the back of avian influenza scares and ongoing episodes of dead pigs being dumped in major waterways.

The loss of confidence in their own meat supply and a desire of families to feed their one child well has seen China turn to the quality product offered by Australia and its niche grassfed and organic offerings.

"HGP is a huge issue for China - they don't want it at all," Mr Schrale said.

A 9pc increase in lean beef going into the US is also expected - an "incredibly positive story" in Mr Schrale's words.

But he acknowledged at the same time that Australian producers were not seeing this reflected in their hip pockets.

"Despite the demand, you're not seeing increased pay rates, but there's better

news coming in terms of price," he said.

When quizzed further by his Clermont audience about the disparity between the rosy forecasts and what producers ended up with in their pockets, Mr Schrale said it would be good to see more players enter the processing market.

"There is a need for producers to find ways to jointly market their product to get ownership back in the supply chain," he told Queensland Country Life.

"I don't think the answer lies in co-ops - we've been down that path. We need a

way for people to maintain their own identity but work together, so they can have choices and run their own businesses the way they want. I think it will be up to

producers and organisations like AgForce to get this happening."

He implored graziers to review their governance and how they manage their image, to take advantage of forthcoming opportunities. "It's incredibly important that you understand marketing - every dollar makes a difference to your bottom line."