Representatives from the Western Australian beef industry will visit Indonesia and Vietnam next week as part of a delegation led by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia.

The delegation will investigate potential new markets, business models and opportunities to attract investment into the northern cattle industry as part of the Northern Beef Futures (NBF) project, made possible by the Royalties for Regions program.

NBF manager of market and supply chain development Manus Stockdale said the delegation of nine would visit feedlots, beef retail outlets, abattoirs and ports in Jakarta, Lampung and Ho Chi Minh City.

“The aim is to gain a better industry understanding of the market place and the importers of Western Australian products,” Mr Stockdale said.

“Along with improving on-station productivity and market alignment, understanding ‘market pull’ is essential for increasing WA businesses’ ability to take advantage of increasing global demand for beef.”

Mr Stockdale said meetings would be held with beef and cattle importers to better understand desired specifications and investigate business models that offered new approaches to ‘doing business’ other than the current transactional approach.

Kimberley Cattlemen’s Association chair and delegation member Peter Camp said he was keen to connect first-hand with customers in these export markets and be able to deliver important feedback and information to northern producers.

Delegation members will share their insights at an industry forum to be held at the Broome Civic Centre on Wednesday 29 April.

In 2013/14, WA’s beef sector gross value of production was $578.7 million.

Live cattle exports from northern Western Australia to Indonesia and Vietnam in 2013-14 were valued at $82.5 million and $6.9 million respectively.

Source: DAFWA