One of the best barometers to measure the demand for beef worldwide is to count the countries exporting beef today. Demand is setting records for tons exported, as beef is being promoted as a great source of lean boneless trimmings – ground beef.
There are many people around the world who wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to grill a steak, but they all know how to cube or shred it.
Grilling beef has become more popular in European countries, but not in undeveloped countries.
Two countries which have protective tariffs and are exporting more beef are Australia and New Zealand. Australia exports around $29 billion worth of beef to the U.S., but will not accept any beef from the U.S. This is about as unfair as it gets.
New Zealand has an interesting history with cattle and is closely related to Australia.
Cattle first came to New Zealand around 1814 from Britain – a 15,000-mile trip. Many of the first cattle were used as draft animals and later were a major form of transportation. Beef cattle – mostly Durham cattle – started to arrive from Australia by the early 1900s.
On the North Island of New Zealand, forests were cleared and good grass seeds from Britain were planted for pasture to create great forage for cattle. Today, over 70 percent of New Zealand’s cattle are on the North Island.
New Zealand is a major global producer and exporter, as their exported meat accounts for around five percent of the world’s exported meat, and New Zealand is considered the sixth-largest beef export nation.
New Zealand has a large dairy industry, and like the U.S., most of the dairy steers are a result of cross breeding with British breeds to create a better meat product to sell.
While New Zealand’s beef herd is getting smaller, their meat exports are forecast to grow. Even though they are under a quota in the U.S., they can still grow their exports here.
Southeast Asia is becoming a major region for New Zealand’s meat exports because of the shorter distance between the countries.
While China has reduced American exports somewhat, New Zealand and Australia have stepped up their exports. One has to realize American exports are mostly muscle meats, while New Zealand exports are frozen, boneless trimmings.
New Zealand’s special beef market is exporting Halal-certified beef with close to 50 percent of their beef slaughter certified Halal and exported to countries with large Muslim populations.
For a number of years, New Zealand exported live dairy heifers to China which turned out to be a great market for their dairy industry. In 2022, the value of live cattle exports was around $374 million, but later a ship loaded with 5,867 head sank in a typhoon, killing all of the cattle and 43 crew members and resulting in a government ban of live animal exports.
At the end of 2023, New Zealand voted in a new government which recognized farmers and ranchers as stewards of the lands and removed many anti-agriculture policies of the past government.
They say it is still hard to be profitable in agriculture, but times are getting better as people are looking more at beef for their protein.
Dennis Sun is the publisher of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup, a weekly agriculture newspaper available online and in print.
