Shoppers should brace for a rise in the price of meat due to the devastating loss of cattle from the Queensland outback floods, an expert has warned.
Farmers have seen more than 100,000 head of cattle, sheep and goats killed or lost by the weather emergency in the west of the state. The Queensland government is predicting the number will rise as further heavy rain continues.
Adjunct Professor Colin Dwyer from James Cook University in Queensland has studied the impact of the catastrophic 2019 flooding in the state’s north-west, and says the pressure on prices is similar now.
Six years ago about 600,000 head of livestock died in the flooding disaster. Over the following year, meat prices rose by an average of 10 to 20 per cent in butchers.
“All the pressures are in place to see an increase in price … we need the ACCC to keep an eye on this to ensure there is no unnecessary price increase,” he said.
Adding to the pressure on meat prices is the impact on road haulage companies and the loss of wages in the cattle industry.
But Dwyer says a strong season by cattle farmers in NSW may be able to offset any price rises caused by the loss of Queensland livestock.
The impact on Australian consumers could be lessened by the fact much of the lost stock was slated for export, according to another expert.
“Most of the beef is high quality and heads to export markets,” said Professor John Rolfe, of Central Queensland University.
