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Importers of red meat are growing in number, while exporters are sticking their tongues out and struggling to keep up. On the market, this inevitably leads to higher and higher prices.
Australian beef more expensive than European beef! This is unheard of on the market! This unprecedented increase reflects the evolution of world prices driven by constantly rising production costs and a stagnating supply.
It is since 2020 that beef prices have derailed. The war in Ukraine only reinforced the rise caused by the upheavals linked to the successive confinements. ” She only added a dot on the i of pandemic and on the i of scarcity insists Philippe Chotteau, Head of the Economics Department at the Livestock Institute.
To cite just one example, in France, production costs for beef have increased by 22% in one year. In particular because of the price of fuel for harvesting fodder, the price of nitrogen fertilizers, or even the price of small livestock equipment which is bought 25% more expensive. Whether in Europe, Brazil, Argentina or the United States, producer prices have all followed an upward curve over the past 12 months. Australia, however, is the country with the highest increase. The price of Australian steer (young beef) reached an absolute record at 5.5 euros per kilo for export, while it was less than 3 euros per kilo in January 2020.
Imports hampered by insufficient supply
These market disruptions add to a context that was already driving up prices: beef production has not increased for three years. Largely because of the vagaries of the weather that have affected pasture production areas, whether in Australia, Canada, Uruguay, Paraguay or even Brazil. ” Hardly a year goes by without a major climatic event affecting one of the major exporters “, explains Philippe Chotteau.
But opposite, the number of importers is only growing, with China which is once again the epicenter of the market since it makes more than a third of world beef purchases.
The structural lack on the cattle market is therefore set to last, according to experts in the sector, like the sheep market. A deficit market for 5/6 years, with New Zealand and Australia, the two major exporters of sheep and lambs, which can no longer meet demand.