COVID-19 crisis to impact Australian red meat exports
Australia starts to feel the pain of the coronavirus crisis, even if China seems to be emerging from COVID-19 shutdown. The crisis is now impacting almost every country in the world and several major markets for Australian red meat are showing severe signs of disruption in trade, metions Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA).
Major disruptions have been reported in almost every export market such as flight cancellations restricting air-freight capacity, refrigerated containers being held at ports and not returned to global circulation, labor shortages and slow customs clearance.
Also, there has been a significant drop in sales at foodservice, the extent depends on restrictions imposed by countries. "Typically, higher value loin cuts make their way into foodservice, balancing out the overall value of the carcase for Australian processors. With loin sales down, it will remain a constant challenge for processors to move the entire carcase while minimizing the impact to overall value of the carcase," said a recenyt MLA report. Nevertheless, as foodservice channels slow, demand for meat through retail, particularly online, has lifted significantly, especially for staple items like mince.
These inconveniences for both exporters and importers have increased the demand for livestock and that is not such a good news for a country confronted with large declines in both sheep flock and cattle inventory.
MLA Senior Market Analyst, Adam Cheetham, said the national flock is forecast to fall 3.5% to 63.7 million head by June 2020, representing the lowest national flock since 1904 and a cumulative fall of 12% since June 2017, before the latest drought. Also, analysts expect a double-digit slowdown in Australian beef production and exports due to a decline of the national cattle herd.
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