Beef's future rests on knowing the consumer

摘要

Reg Clairs, managing director of Woolworths, spoke frankly about the challenges facing beef at the meat industry conference in May. He sees a bright future for pasture finishing because of its cost competitiveness. LET US start with the hypothesis ofthe demand versus the supply cycle and spend time initially in the domestic market. In global terms, Australia enjoys a high standard of living, a stable economy and a high level of personal freedom. We also have a population base of around 18,000,000 which is increasing at a rate of only approximately 1% per annum. The natural increase, that is births minus deaths, has been in decline since the 1970s and has recently fallen below replacement level. Therefore a growing percentage of the population gainis through immigration.