Australian beef exporters to brace for a hit as China sets new import quotas

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Chief Executive of Northern New South Wales meat processor Simon Stahl says China’s new beef tariffs reflect a trend of governments' putting their domestic industries first. He argues the Australian Government should help the local industry here by cutting inspection fees.

Transcript

00:00It's pretty hard for me to judge what the Chinese are thinking, but there has been a

00:06lot of governments recently acting to look after, I suppose, their own industries, and

00:13I think it's incumbent on our government to help us out in times like this.

00:17And how do you want the Australian government to help you out?

00:20Well, look, just before Christmas, only a couple of weeks ago, they really, what we

00:26say is they did a cash grab for another $20 million that industry will have to pay, which

00:30is quite significant.

00:33It's our inspection services across the country, and whilst they're important, it is a monopoly,

00:38it is run by the government, and basically there's no efficiency in that, so we're calling

00:43on them to manage the things that they can manage.

00:46Just explain for us what that is in layman's terms, this cash grab, as you describe it.

00:52Well, the inspection services are costing around $110 million a year.

00:58It was $90 million funded by industry, and that's to go up another $20 million in this

01:04next year.

01:06And we ask government to get efficient.

01:08It's a monopoly service.

01:09It is a government bureaucracy, and we think it's very inefficient.

01:13And governments around the world are supporting their industries, and we feel we're not getting

01:16that support.

01:17So, whilst tariffs may be a little bit out of their control, I would argue the free trade

01:22should take care of that.

01:23But whilst they may be out of their control, there's other things that are in government's

01:27control.

01:28Okay.

01:29So, how big are Chinese exports in your business, in percentage terms, and what sort of hit do

01:34you expect you're going to take?

01:35Well, it's about a quarter of our business, 20 to 25 percent.

01:40So, to have a gross value of about $100 million a year is the business to China.

01:45Not sure.

01:46So, it'll affect, say, 30 percent of our exports in the latter half of the year, and just not

01:51sure what impact that'll have on trade and whether there are other markets that can pick

01:55it up.

01:56Without it, a 55 percent impost is really hard for the Chinese consumer to accept, and

02:02I don't think they will.

02:03Yeah.

02:04And so, can you increase supply to other markets, but probably at a lower price?

02:09Absolutely.

02:10It'll be at a lower price, and that's not going to be good for anyone, for processors

02:14and for the farmers in this country.

02:16What other markets would you likely go to?

02:19Well, look, the U.S. has been strong, and certainly traditional markets, Japan and Korea,

02:25although they've had their own issues as well.

02:27So, and, you know, the world is quite uncertain right now, so I think the government has to

02:31really look at what they can do to make us more efficient and support us in our endeavour

02:36to export, you know, what is effectively 75 percent of the product that we produce.

02:41It looks like these measures are going to be in place for three years.

02:44Are you optimistic that with a bit of lobbying that could change?

02:47Yeah, I'm not sure.

02:50I mean, we found it hard to lobby last time we had certain issues with China.

02:54I think that may come about as they see the impact on the consumer in China.

02:58I mean, that's 55 percent on other nations as well, which is going to make beef fairly

03:03expensive in that country.

03:05What we don't want is a switch from our sector into domestic chicken and pork in those countries.

03:10So, you know, it's a threat to our industry over the longer term, for sure.

03:14And so how is 2025 overall in the industry?

03:17And how is 2026 looking?

03:21Look, 2025 was much improved.

03:23We got access to labour at our plant in particular and a lot of other plants across the country.

03:28And cattle supply is there.

03:30Cattle prices have been at record through 2025.

03:33And I think with that rain up in the north that we've seen over the last couple of weeks,

03:38a great start to the wet season.

03:39I think there'll be some more pressure on cattle prices.

03:41But generally, domestically, of what we can do, we're going well.

03:45It's this uncertainty in the international markets that we really need the government to stand up for us.

03:49Yeah.

03:50OK, Simon Stahl, thanks for talking to us from the Gold Coast.

03:52Cheers.

03:53Thanks.

03:54Cheers, thanks.

03:55Cheers, thanks.

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