Latest news with #AustralianBeef
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Australia's Albanese says compromise on biosecurity ‘not worth it' ahead of Trump talks
Australia will not relax its strict biosecurity rules during tariff negotiations with the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday ahead of a potential meeting with US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit this month. Australia has restricted the entry of US beef since 2003 due to the detection of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease, but it exports beef worth A$4 billion (US$2.6 billion) annually to the US, its largest market. 'We will not change or compromise any of the issues regarding biosecurity – full stop, exclamation mark. It's simply not worth it,' Albanese told ABC Radio. Trump in April singled out Australian beef while announcing a 10 per cent baseline tariff on all imports. Years of dry weather have shrunk US cattle numbers to their lowest since the 1950s, but Australia, with a herd swollen by wet weather, is flush with supply, offering lower prices and lean cuts that the US lacks. A report in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Friday, citing unidentified government officials, said Australian authorities were reviewing whether to allow entry of beef products from cattle raised in Mexico and Canada but slaughtered in the US, as the Trump administration has demanded.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Chinese supermarket shoppers reveal how Donald Trump's brutal tariff move has impacted Aussie beef
Supermarkets in China have beefed up on Aussie meat amid tariff tensions between the US and the Asian superpower. Australian beef exports to China have soared in recent months in the wake of US president Donald Trump 's sweeping 'liberation day' tariffs regime earlier in the year. The rival economic superpowers have most recently accused each other of violating a tariff truce struck in Geneva last month. A Chinese woman shared vision of the meat section of her local supermarket, where shelves were filled with Australian beef where US products were previously stocked. She held up a 300g package of grain fed Angus beef as she complimented Australian growers. 'I guess I'm having Australian beef for dinner tonight, instead of American beef,' the woman said in English. 'And, honestly, because of the food quality, I probably trust Australian beef better. 'This box of beef right here is 50 RMB which is about $7 USD [AU$10.82].' @ China ditches American beef and chose Australian beef instead after this tariff war and I'm not complaining 😌🇦🇺🥩 #china #chinese #australia #australian #aussie #usa #america #american #tradewar #tariff #tariffwar #chinatiktok #travelinchina #chinatravel #xiaohongshu #rednote #viral #trend ♬ original sound - The Chinese woman then took a brutal swipe at the US. 'So to answer the question, China ain't hurting,' she said. 'If anything, I think we're probably doing even better because now we have better beef that tastes better and at a better price. 'So thank you Trump for that.' It comes after an American expat echoed similar sentiments when he stumbled across Australian Wagyu beef in a high-end Shanghai grocery store for $46 CYN ($9 AUD). 'I was going to buy some meat for dinner tonight and I was going to get some ground beef, so what used to be here is American ground beef and now … it says Australian ground beef,' the content creator explained in a TikTok video. 'The whole idea that China is hurting because of the tariffs, they're not, because they just buy from other places because they're not as dependent on the US. 'So China ain't hurting, and I guess we're all gonna start eating Australian beef in China now. I'm sure it tastes good so welcome to the new world.' Meat and Livestock Australia data showed a hefty increase in the nation's grain fed beef exports to China in 2025. More than 21,000 tonnes of Australian beef arrived in China in February and March, representing a 40 per cent increase on the same time last year. In April, Australia exported a record 37,000 tonnes of beef in a single month. China bought a third of that total. Australian exporters were capitalising on record levels of supply, according to experts. But MLA's global market analyst Tim Jackson was hesitant to attribute China's growing appetite for Australian meat to the ongoing trade war with the US. 'It's difficult to say at the moment, these are fairly early figures and we'd need to wait for more information to come out and get a better understanding of that trade dynamic,' he previously told the ABC. The beef trade between the US and China – worth an estimated AU$2.5billion to the Americans – has been largely halted by reciprocal tariff measures. The US Meat Federation stated 'the majority of US beef production is now ineligible for China' due to trade restrictions in April. 'This impasse definitely hit our March beef shipments harder and the severe impact will continue until China lives up to its commitments under the Phase One Economic and Trade Agreement.' In April, global meat analyst Brett Stuart said that Australia was the 'lone supplier' of high-quality, white fat marbled beef in China. '(US beef) sales to China have fallen to zero … and not only is the market now closed based on the March 16 production date, but the combined retaliation tariffs by China now take the tariff on US beef to 116 per cent, a level that will quickly halt trade.' On Friday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer accused China of ' violating' a trade agreement made in Geneva in May. The handshake agreement between the world's two largest economies was widely seen as a way to tamper tensions. The agreement made between Mr Greer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and top Chinese officials stipulated that the two countries would unwind tariffs and trade restrictions on certain critical minerals. Mr Greer accused China of slow-walking that process during the interview Friday. China was hit with a tariff rate in excess of 145 percent earlier this year before the agreement, but the rate then came down to around 30 percent. Trump said he expected to talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping during an Oval Office press conference with Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk on Friday.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Thanks Trump': Aussie beef exports explode amid trade war
Australian beef has been replacing US products on the shelves in Chinese supermarkets as the two economic superpowers continue their trade war. Beijing and Washington in recent days accused each other of violating a truce in the tit-for-tat tariff regime sparked by Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' announcement in April. Now a video posted to X has shown how trade tensions have changed things on the ground in China, where American beef stocks have virtually disappeared. In the video, a local speaking in English shows a shelf stocked full of Australian beef where US products used to be found. 'I guess I'm having Australian beef for dinner tonight,' she said. 'Instead of American beef. 'And honestly because of the food quality, I probably trust Australian beef better. 'And this box of beef right here is 50 RMB which is about $7 USD (AU$10.82). 'So to answer the question, China ain't hurting. And if anything I think we're probably doing even better because now that we have better beef that tastes better and at a better price. 'So thank you Trump for that.' Data from Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) has tracked a significant increase in grain-fed beef exports into China so far this year. There were 21,885 tonnes shipped in February and March — up nearly 40 per cent on the same period last year – and in April China bought a third of the record 37,000 tonnes exported in a single month. MLA's global supply analyst Tim Jackson has said Australia's export volumes were high because of record supply levels. He was more hesitant, however, to attribute the huge intake from China to the ongoing trade war. 'It's difficult to say at the moment, these are fairly early figures and we'd need to wait for more information to come out and get a better understanding of that trade dynamic,' he told the ABC. But there have been reports that the US$1.6 billion trade (AU$2.5 billion) of American beef to China has been effectively halted by the reciprocal tariffs, which until last month sat at 145 per cent and 125 per cent respectively. The US Meat Federation said in April that 'the majority of US beef production is now ineligible for China' due to trade restrictions. 'This impasse definitely hit our March beef shipments harder and the severe impact will continue until China lives up to its commitments under the Phase One Economic and Trade Agreement.' At the time, global meat analyst Brett Stuart told the ABC that Australia was 'now the lone supplier of high-quality white fat marbled beef into China'. '(US beef) sales to China have fallen to zero … and not only is the market now closed based on the March 16 production date, but the combined retaliation tariffs by China now take the tariff on US beef to 116 per cent, a level that will quickly halt trade.' The US remains a huge market for Australian beef and imported more of the product (37,213 tonnes) than China (21,572 tonnes) in the month of April. A 90-day trade war truce was struck between the US and China on May 12, with tariffs reduced to 30 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. However, both nations have recently accused the other of undermining the agreement. US President Mr Trump on Friday claimed Beijing had 'totally violated its agreement with us', before China hit back this week, saying Washington had 'seriously undermined' the deal. Trump, Xi will 'likely' talk this week Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will likely hold a long-awaited call later this week, the White House said on Monday, as trade tensions between the world's two largest economies escalate. Trump reignited strains with China last week when he accused the world's second-largest economy of violating a deal that had led both countries to reduce massive tit-for-tat tariffs temporarily. 'The two leaders will likely talk this week,' Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters outside the West Wing when asked whether Mr Trump and Mr Xi would speak. Mr Trump and Xi have yet to have any confirmed contact more than five months since the Republican returned to power, despite frequent claims by the US president that a call is imminent. Trump even said in a Time Magazine interview in April that Xi had called him - but Beijing insisted that there had been no call recently. Stock markets around the world mostly declined on Monday as tensions between the US and China resurfaced.
News.com.au
22-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
AACo operating profit lifts 14 per cent to 58.4 million
Australian Agricultural Company Chief Executive David Harris says demand for Australian beef is 'building' globally. Australia's oldest and biggest cattle producer, AACo, has had a strong year, notwithstanding the threat of US tariffs on Australian beef exports and the threat from the Greens to ban live cattle exports. The company said on Thursday operating profit was $58.4 million, up 14 per cent, with revenue growing 15 per cent to almost $388 million.
The Australian
08-05-2025
- Business
- The Australian
China has effectively blocked American beef from entering the country giving Australia a monopoly
After all his grumbling about Australian beef farmers, President Donald Trump has just gifted them near monopoly status in China's almost $5 billion premium beef market. In a matter of weeks, China's high-end beef market has been up-ended as Beijing has again used the trade to deal out punishment – this time on Trump's America. Chinese officials have effectively blocked American beef from entering the country, leaving Australia with the top of the market almost to itself. America sold $2.4 billion (US$1.6 billion) to China in 2024. 'America has just gone up in smoke in front of our eyes,' said a source, speaking anonymously because of the political sensitivity of Australia benefiting economically from the misfortune of its security ally. Beef is Australia's biggest agricultural export to China, worth more than the wine and lobster trade combined. Australian farmers sold $2.2 billion worth of beef to China in 2024, making it Australia's second biggest beef market after America (which bought a whopping $4.4 billion worth of Australian beef to the chagrin of the Trump administration). Right now, the biggest China problem for Australian farmers is whether they can rustle up enough cows to fill the lucrative American-shaped gap. None want to relinquish the new markets they grew during Beijing's 2020-24 trade tantrum. They know their privileged status in China may not last. Mr Trump and China's President Xi Jinping have agreed to send senior officials to Switzerland to discuss their respective tariff walls this weekend. Those talks could eventually lead to a breakthrough that allows the resumption of America's beef trade, although they are taking place after months of bad-will between the two sides and with both sides talking down their prospects. 'It depends on President Trump,' said the manager of one high-end steakhouse in Beijing. Mr Xi, who has a long history of targeting agricultural products in his various trade vendettas, also has a vote. Australia's recent experience shows how China's leader can drag these things out for years. With billions of premium beef sales potentially up for grabs, a herd of Australian beef exporters will fly into Shanghai within a fortnight for SIAL China, an important trade event for the food and beverage industry in the world's second biggest economy. They will arrive in the wake of praise from Beijing for Anthony Albanese's reelection and as Chinese state media talks up the future of trade ties between Australia and China. Australian wine exporters, along with exporters of cotton, timber, wheat and lobsters, are also experiencing a role reversal, as these former victims of Beijing's trade restrictions now find themselves benefiting from Chinese trade imposts on America and Canada. Favourable bilateral politics — and a desire to find non-American supplies — also helped Australian gas giant Woodside recently snare a 15 year long supply agreement with a Chinese state owned giant. It is a dramatic reversal of fortunes for Australian farmers. Some of the current beef beneficiaries were only allowed to sell again into the Chinese market months ago after being frozen out for almost four years by Beijing during its epic $20 billion trade coercion campaign on Australia. Beijing's first strike on the US herd came in March, as Chinese officials refused to renew trading licenses for American beef companies. 'There's nothing coming in. Even if they are getting [American product] to port, [Chinese officials] are turning it away,' said a person familiar with the situation. Then in April, Mr Xi responded to Mr Trump's 145 per cent tariffs on China with a 125 per cent imposed on American imports. Even if American beef could get into China, those tariffs would decimate the trade. Kevin Wang, a Beijing-based sales manager of high-end beef importer Tenderplus, said many Chinese beef traders were now reinventing themselves as Australian importers. 'The interest of Chinese beef traders in Australian beef is dramatically increasing,' Mr Wang told The Australian. 'People are looking for Australian partners to import beef. Some have already flown to Australia to talk with trade partners,' he said. Menus have already been reprinted at premium restaurants around China. Even the most patriotically American branded places are looking increasingly Australian. The Shanghai and Beijing branches of New York institution Wolfgang's Steakhouse are now selling Australian porterhouse, striploin, rib eye and filet mignon as its supplies of American beef are weeks away from extinction. American BBQ restaurant Homeplate in Chengdu and Beijing has also made the switch. The menu promises BBQ just like in the 'Texas Hill Country', but its chefs are now using fatty Australian M5 for its smoked meat. Near the centre of Beijing, the ritzy branch of 'Morton's of Chicago' – which is owned by Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who Mr Trump has described as his 'twin' and has just appointed to be his Ambassador to Italy – looks increasingly like a Neil Perry restaurant. Morton's has even swapped its house red from an American drop to a Clare Valley Shiraz, a lovely match with its Australian porterhouse from Rangers Valley in NSW's northern tablelands. 'By the glass' American reds in China will remain shelved so long as tariffs remain at their crippling current levels. China's biggest sources of beef are Brazil and Argentina, but they sell at the cheaper end of the market. The South American's conspicuous success has been at the expense of Chinese farmers and has triggered a 'safeguards' investigation from Beijing that hangs over the entire industry. Restrictions on other high-end sellers Japan and Canada effectively shut them out of China's market. The results of Beijing's 'safeguards' investigation, due in the second half of the year, could see it increase tariffs on foreign suppliers. High volume, low cost sellers look to be most at risk, but it could shrink the size of China's market considerably — including the premium end, Russian producers have also flooded China after the Ukraine war, but the quality is not good enough for high end restaurants. 'Russian pork is fine. Their beef just tastes a bit funky,' said a restaurant manager in Beijing. He said his kitchen had recently switched from American beef to Australian Read related topics: China Ties Will Glasgow North Asia Correspondent Will Glasgow is The Australian's North Asia Correspondent. In 2018 he won the Keith McDonald Award for Business Journalist of the Year. He previously worked at The Australian Financial Review. Business The nation's biggest agricultural company is reeling from the sudden exit of an influential executive, who quit by saying 'I'm simply going to focus on my own career'. Nation A crisis of historic proportions is unfolding across much of southern Australia, but farmers say you wouldn't know it from federal election campaign.
