International visitors will make a welcome return to Rockhampton this year after COVID restrictions prevented overseas guests from attending the previous triennial Beef Australia expo in 2021.

Event organisers are pulling out all stops to ensure the Beef 2024 program provides a memorable and worthwhile experience for all delegates travelling from other countries.

Long-time Indonesian lot feeding partners Dicky Adiwoso and Greg Pankhurst.

International Committee chair Greg Pankhurst said hundreds of visitors from more than a dozen countries have already booked to attend the May 5-11 event, including from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Vietnam, Indonesia, the United States, Uruguay, Argentina, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu.

“We’re very strongly focused on welcoming international guests and helping to match them up with Australian businesses or companies that may be able to do business together in future,” Mr Pankhurst told Beef Central.

Overseas visitor participation has been an integral and celebrated feature of Rockhampton Beef Expos ever since the first event was held in 1988.

At the 2018 event held prior to COVID, more than 1200 international delegates from 43 countries attended the event.

The International Program at Beef 2024 will provide people from across the global beef production and supply chain to come together, hear updates from a diverse range of experts and exchange knowledge and idea on issues of importance.

The Handshakes Program also provides an opportunity for international visitors to engage in face-to-face business matching meetings, discussions, and negotiations, promoting collaboration, understanding, and cooperation among stakeholders.

For the first time, Handshakes participants, particularly those new to, or thinking about readying their business for international trade and investment opportunities, will also receive free online pitch readiness training provided by Trade and Investment Queensland, which will assist them with advice on securing funding, sourcing new clients and building strong business partnerships.

International Program participants will have the opportunity to network with key Australian beef industry stakeholders in the international delegates lounge, and to participate in facilitated trade meetings, property tours and educational seminars.

“We’ve engaged with people who have a product or service which is internationally orientated to register for our handshakes program, and then that information will be one printed onto a book, which our international guests can take home with them,” Mr Pankhurst said.

“We also have a portal for use while they are at Beef 2024 to arrange meetings with people with products or services that may be of interest to them or also with other international delegates themselves.”

Beef 2024 will also provide overseas visitors with a spectacular presentation of Australian cattle, with more than 1700 stud cattle onsite at the Rockhampton Showgrounds and hundreds of prime cattle to be yarded at the Gracemere Saleyards for the Commercial cattle championships and sale.

Mr Pankhurst said the vast array of trade sites showcasing “everything that opens and shuts” for the cattle industry is another major drawcard of the event for overseas visitors.

“We also have an amazing social program, with breakfasts, luncheons and dinners and a celebrity chef program with an amazing group of chefs who will cook up a storm.”

Mr Pankhurst said the event program also includes three seminars specifically targeted to international guests.

“I encourage all interested parties to jump online to find out more, download our brochure which is now available in 10 different languages, and register today.”

The Beef Australia 2024 International Program is supported by the Australian and Queensland Governments, Trade and Investment Queensland, Meat & Livestock Australia and various industry organisations.

Registrations are open now for both the Beef Australia International Program and 2024 Handshakes Program.