QUEENSLAND is on the brink of signing a major kangaroo export deal with protein-hungry China.
Queensland Senator Ron Boswell, Agriculture Minister John McVeigh and LNP Senate candidate David Goodwin met with leading Chinese food and logistic company executives in Brisbane late last week to discuss exports of kangaroo meat to for human consumption in China.
Senator Boswell, Mr McVeigh and Mr Goodwin outlined the growth in kangaroo numbers in Queensland and the potential for exports of high-quality meat.
They explained to RPX chairman Riqin Wu and general manager Aimin Luo that kangaroos in Queensland were humanely culled and hygienically processed.
Senator Boswell said kangaroo processing was tightly-controlled by federal and state government agencies.
He told Mr Wu and Mr Lou that Queensland had exceptional potential to be a reliable, longterm supplier of high-quality kangaroo meat to China.
Senator Boswell said he also believed the Russian market for kangaroo meat could be rejuvenated.
“Barnaby Joyce and I have spoken to the Russian Ambassador and the trade attaché,” Senator Boswell said.
“A couple of container loads have gone to Russia on a trial basis and we will certainly be trying to build up the Russian market again.
“At the same time, we have been talking to Chinese contacts for the past few months. David Goodwin has been exploring the opportunity for kangaroo meat to receive a quota from the Chinese government.
“David owns a logistics company and already does business with China, so he is well placed to follow through on this.”
Senator Boswell said developing markets for the currently under-utilised kangaroo meat was important for the rural economy and communities.
“First, the explosion of kangaroo numbers in many areas means that they are impacting on grazing and grain operations, competing with stock and reducing yields.
“Second, the income and infrastructure that flows from kangaroo shooting and processing would be a big boost for small country towns.
“For example, extra shooters and process workers in a town could mean extra children at the school and an extra teacher, and extra spending at local shops. It’s very important.
“The Chinese market for kangaroo meat potentially is huge and, if we can secure a sizeable quota from the Chinese government, the benefits for rural Queensland would be enormous,” Senator Boswell said.
The development and expansion of kangaroo export markets can’t come soon enough for Jeff Newton, who manages the Macro Meats box in Longreach.
His box has been shut for the past three weeks, making it extremely hard to plan or budget.
“The industry has always been unstable but the past four years are the worst they’ve ever been,” he said.
The nine different sites that fed into the box at Longreach – Richmond, Hughenden, Corfield, Jundah, Stonehenge, Windorah, Ilfracombe, Barcaldine and Longreach itself – used to supply 100,000 head a year but are now down to 30,000 head.
The flow-on effects to those small communities have been massive, Mr Newton said, calculating that he used to take a road train of 1000 kangaroos a week out of the northern sites.
“Your average roo is worth $15 or $16 – that’s a fair bit of money gone every week,” he said.
“It’s the loss of a truck driver’s wage too.”
At the same time, Mr Newton said roo numbers in the paddocks were the highest he had seen since coming to the west in 1990.
The logistics of carting the meat to the Macro Meats base at Adelaide put the northern Queensland boxes at a disadvantage, he said.
“The only time we get a crack at it is when it rains.”
Mr Newton believes new markets and opening up the industry to more processors are the keys required to getting ahead.
