Australia supplies the US with more beef than Ireland produces

The fact that Ireland is the top beef exporting country in the Northern hemisphere sounds impressive until we learn that Australia will supply the USA with as much beef this year than Ireland produces in total.

With the US dollar and sterling being the two really strong currencies at present, prices in the USA and UK are particularly attractive to exporters, particularly the euro countries and Australia / New Zealand, all whose currencies are weak at present.

In terms of numbers Australia has a tariff free quota with the USA of 420,000 tonnes and they expect to fill this by October. In contrast Ireland has to operate out of a 64,000 tonne quota which is shared with several other countries, so even if we did get exporting manufacturing beef we would quickly run into problems.

The USA is regarded by Australia as the most valuable market in the world at present for manufacturing or hamburger beef as it is referred to. Outside of the large supermarkets and burger chains, this is a depressed market in the UK and Europe at present, hence the frustration that Ireland cannot get a slice of this action.

We have the perfect opportunity at present with a weak Euro and lowest cattle herd in the USA in decades. Even a surge in Australian supplies, driven largely by drought there hasn’t oversupplied the market which has been able to handle everything thrown at it.

New Zealand, more famous for its lamb exports is also a huge supplier of beef to the USA with a quota of 213,000 tonnes. They too are running ahead of last year with supplies up 20%. This is likely to ease off in the coming weeks as the New Zealand kill is expected to ease back dramatically.