See-saw Ride for Global Meat Markets

Over the last year, Australia saw beef and veal shipments increase by three per cent, reaching 949,195 tonnes according to the figures from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF).

Meat and Livestock Australia said that by beating the 922,833 tonnes in exports for 2010 Australia’s beef and veal shipments finished the year at a rapid pace.

November’s shipments were the highest in three years, while the year concluded with a record December volume of 82,054 tonnes.

In the US, beef supplies at the moment appear to be at or above the levels of a year ago and there is some concern about the ability of the market to absorb higher supplies at current price levels.

The choice beef this week was 2.3 per cent lower than on 3 January but still some 13.3 per cent higher than the same period a year ago.

All the efforts that the Argentine Government have made to boost consumption of beef on the domestic market appear to have come to nothing as upward pressure on prices has seen beef consumption fall to 53.8 kg per capita per annum - the lowest levels for 91 years.

Reduced availability of products, increasing population size and higher prices are to blame.

The Chamber of Meat Trade and Meat Products (CICCRA) says that the consumption of beef fell 6.7 per cent over the last year, the lowest since 1920 when consumption was just 47 kg per capita.

However, sales of poultry and pork products have increased, largely because they are more competitively priced rather than seeing a change in eating habits.

Beef prices have increased by 130 per cent in the last year.

Mexico has seen its meat exports to Japan nearly double over the last year, reaching 70,134 tonnes, compared to 38,176 tonnes in 2010, according to figures from the National Health Service, Food Safety and Food Quality (SENASA).

The increase in meat exports to Japan has been put down to a concerted effort from Mexican producers and companies together with a push by the Federal Government to meet the sanitary requirements demanded by one of the world's most demanding markets.

South Korea’s self-sufficiency rate of pork dropped to the lowest point ever last year because of the massive culling of pigs in the wake of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks.

The self-sufficiency ratio of the meat stood at 60.3 per cent at the end of last year, down 20.6 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the data provided by the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.