A DIVE INTO THE RECORD HIGH PRICING OF CATTLE

RECORD high cattle prices has been an ongoing headline in Australian media but a deeper conversation about why has not been deeply explored. Yes, this is a great thing for the industry – setting new standards for prices is beneficial – but there is a dark past as to why we are seeing these unprecedented prices.

Let us wind it back to the last decade, which started with severe floods and then ended with drought.

These natural disasters, particularly drought, are some of the larger contributing factors to this seismic fluctuation in cattle prices. To say the least – working with such a temperamental climate – farmers have a tough gig.

Coupled with drought and Covid, Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association chief executive Will Evans said a strong global demand for high quality, safe protein, and producers around Australia who were recovering from years of drought needing to buy back cattle had helped keep the Australian price for cattle high

With a wet season that has tracked below average, there are plenty of producers out there doing it tough and will be praying for some late-season rain.

There are stories farmers searching greater distances than usual to find cattle to buy and at a good price in bid to rebuild livestock capital they were forced to sell only a few years earlier.

Now with such extreme prices, producers are buying less and paying more due to the price and the lack of supply.

Looking at the price increase with a domestic consumer lens, have you noticed a change in higher beef prices at the supermarket? Rabobank senior animal proteins analyst Angus Gidley-Baird said he believed the average consumer might be more willing to pay extra on extravagant foods when they were not spending as much money on travel and pre-Covid world costs.

As the world starts to simulate some kind of new version of normalcy, will people be less willing to pay a hefty price for a 300g porterhouse, or would they rather put the extra cents towards their international holiday piggy-bank? Time will tell.

This timely point of topic should serve as a reminder to consumers to continue to support local. Buy from the butcher rather than corporate giants like Coles or Woolies.

We, as the consumer, have more power and control than you think.

So put your money where your mouth is and support the local economy.