REGULATORY inefficiencies are pushing Australian live cattle exporters to the brink, with industry leaders warning jobs are on the verge of being shed and entire businesses could fold.
Against a backdrop of seemingly insatiable Indonesian and Vietnamese demand for high quality Australian livestock and big Chinese beef companies knocking on our doors looking for the same product, exporters have lashed out at the heavy red tape cost burden they bear.
The situation in Australia is in stark contrast to the 100-plus other livestock exporting nations keen to make inroads in the same markets and that adds up to significant competitive disadvantage, according to the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council.
Chief executive officer Alison Penfold said there was no argument against regulation of the trade - in fact Australian exporters invested heavily in the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) because they see animal welfare and industry sustainability as going hand-in-hand.
But it doesn’t have to come at the cost of industry jobs because of ‘mountains of unnecessary paperwork and time-zapping, inefficient bureaucratic processes’, she said.
Undue pressure was being placed on exporters due to Australia’s ‘costly and clunky, rigid and complex’ regulatory system, she said.
“It’s the time government departments take to make approvals even on plans we’re regularly exporting to, it’s police checks on staff not at management level, it’s exporters waiting weeks for slight variations to ESCAS supply chains to be approved,” Ms Penfold said.
“Before an Australian exporter gets out of bed, he is already behind.
“Australia’s regulatory costs are a godsend for our competitors who don’t have the same commitment to animal welfare.
“Competitors like Brazil with live cattle and cheap Indian buffalo are a real threat to our cattle markets in South East Asia.
“We’re talking many of dollars per head in added costs - exporters are saying this is the toughest trading environment since the late 90s.”
The revelations of just how volatile trading conditions are in the live export game, which is currently being lauded as setting a strong floor in the northern cattle market and pumping big money into regional economies, come as ALEC prepares a submission to the Productivity Commission inquiry into the regulation of agriculture.
That submission is expected to go into detailed figures on the costs regulatory inefficiency is placing on the industry.
ALEC is calling on the Australian Government to put pressure on more exporting nations to adopt the same industry animal welfare through chain assurance systems and protocols as Australia.
Meat and Livestock Australia figures show 2015 was a record trade period for the live export trade, with more than 1.33 million cattle exported for the year, worth an estimated $1.47b freight-on-board.
Live cattle exports accounted for 13 per cent of Australia’s overall cattle turnoff last year and that percentage won’t drop much this year.
MLA’s market information manager Ben Thomas said live export had traditionally accounted for 9pc of turnoff but due to fast-growing demand from Indonesia, Vietnam and other emerging markets, that was forecast to lift to 12pc in 2016.
“Jakarta wet market prices keep increasing. Provided there are no disruptions to trade there will be the incentive for large numbers of live cattle to go to Indonesia,” he said.
In a year of fast-dwindling cattle supply in Australia, the forecast 1m head expected to be shipped live will be a significant influencing factor on the cattle market.
