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China to Buy More Australian Meat, Rabobank’s Voss Forecasts
30.04.2010 13:24 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
China to Buy More Australian Meat, Rabobank’s Voss ForecastsAustralian beef and sheepmeat exports to China, the fastest-growing major economy, will gain as rising incomes and increasing urban populations boost demand, according to a report by Rabobank Groep NV.
China may become a solidly growing secondary beef market for Australia as demand is also being boosted by changing diets and declining local production, Rabobank senior analyst and report author Wendy Voss said by phone from Melbourne today.
Australia, the second-largest beef shipper after Brazil, may send about 78 percent of its exports to Japan, the U.S. and South Korea this year, according to industry group Meat & Livestock Australia. Japan, the largest market, may purchase 330,000 tons, the group said in a report in February.
«While the Chinese meat market will continue to grow in importance, it will not be another Japan, at least within the next decade,» Voss said. Volume increases were likely to be in the «tens of thousands» of tons she said, without giving a specific forecast.
Australia shipped 24,000 metric tons of sheepmeat, to China last year, accounting for about 15 percent of the country’s lamb exports, Voss said. Beef shipments were 13,000 tons, or about 1.5 percent of the total, according to Voss.
Cattle and sheep output in China had become less attractive compared with grains or intensive livestock because of reduced government support, uncertain markets and rising costs, she said.
China is the world’s largest market for sheepmeat, pork and seafood and the fourth-largest for beef, according to Rabobank.
Negotiation of a free-trade agreement with China would help support Australia’s position in the market, the report said.
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