AUSTRALIA faces some mounting competitive challenges in the rapidly changing China beef market, an international market update video produced by Meat & Livestock Australia says.

MLA’s general manager for international markets, Michael Finucan, who featuring in this short video, says while China has emerged as a key market for Australian beef over the past two years, we are now heading into an increasingly competitive trading environment in China, with the arrival of Brazil (see Beef Central’s earlier story).

“The China market has grown really fast, but has now stabilised,” Mr Finucan says.

“China is an incredibly complex, diverse market, with 1.3 billion people – a very large country with a lot of opportunities. But it come with some challenges,” he says.

“From a marketing perspective, we need to make sure we segment the opportunities in China and understand where we can best position Australian beef. That’s the new phase we’re in now, going down the next level – determining where Australian beef best fits in the hugely diverse China retail and food service market.”

Mr Finucan, who is responsible for implementing MLA’s global strategy in export markets, says Australia had enjoyed some considerable successes in global exports recently, with growing volumes of grassfed beef into the US. In Japan, good opportunity presented itself with the onset of northern hemisphere summer barbecue season, in pushing grilling cuts through a new MLA barbecue campaign.

After their recent Australian gathering, MLA’s overseas regional business managers have now headed back to their regions to review their strategies and start building implementation plans for the year ahead, promoting Australia’s favourable points of difference including our integrity systems, safety system and traceability.

‘It’s really important to get feedback from our industry councils and the commercial players to make sure that our in-market strategies are delivering on what needs to be done to best position Australian beef,” he says.

Click the link below to view Michael Finucan’s comments via this short video.