In his address to the Meat & Livestock Australia Annual General Meeting at Launceston yesterday, chairman Don Heatley was optimistic about the future of the red meat industry given its commitment to continuous improvement and response to market signals.
“The past year has once again delivered a volatile mix of challenges and successes," he said.
"An A$ that reached parity with the US and ongoing economic woes in our major markets placed enormous pressure on returns to exporters and producers.
“Despite this, the lamb industry has thrived as demand in the Middle East and on the domestic market continues to grow.
“The beef business has been tough. Exports have been eroded by the exchange rate, but it has been pleasing to see the Australian domestic market absorb the additional product, and keep paying a good price for it.”
Mr Heatley also encouraged members to continue to make the most of MLA and use new tools and technologies for their own advantage.
“I’d like to challenge you to continue to demand a return on your investment in the company, and to capitalise on that investment by taking up the opportunities it provides you and your business," he said.
In the managing director’s AGM address, David Palmer said MLA was focussed on three major areas of service to the red meat industry.
“We aim to drive producers’ levy dollars further by helping increase returns per hectare; further growing demand for red meat; and reinforcing community trust in our industry,” he said.
Mr Palmer then highlighted some of the industry achievements that MLA played a role in during the year, including:
- a review of the More Beef from Pastures, Making More From Sheep and northern beef programs that showed they returned between $2.60 and $4.00 to the industry for every dollar invested (GHD Hassall);
- the number of MSA-graded beef cattle reaching 1.25 million head – an increase of 27pc on last year – and the number of lambs graded doubling to 508,000 head in the second full year of processing for the MSA sheepmeat program;
- successful negotiations to supply beef to the EU as part of the EU agreement with the US for a new tariff-free beef quota;
- the domestic lamb marketing campaign, with servings of lamb during the Australia Day period up 8.4pc year on year to hit 21.9 million/week (Roy Morgan);
- the launch of the Red Meat Green Facts campaign to educate consumers about the industry’s environmental credentials.
Mr Palmer also provided the revenue, income and expenditure of the company, with MLA delivering a surplus of $1.1 million for the year.
