Milestones in the Australian Meat Industry

1860’s 

• Outbreak of pleuropneumonia – decimated herds in NSW⁴

1861 

• 1^st Freezer works invented – Darling Harbour⁸

1870   

• Tick introduced on imported stock from Dutch Bativia⁴

1896  

• Tick Plague bought red water fever – killed many cattle, some pastoralists abandoned properties⁴

1910   

• 3 Zebu bulls introduced to QLD⁴

1948   

• 15 year contract with Australia – UK purchased all exportable beef surpluses⁸

1950’s   

• Large numbers of imports of Zebu to QLD⁴
• Refrigeration for long haul transports improved in efficiency and financially⁸
• Sheep prices soared £1 head – during Korean war¹⁰

1954-60 

• Britain won contracts in previous Australian export markets. USA developed ‘grinder beef’ allowed new markets for North Australia⁴
• Global demand for beef, boom lead to record cattle numbers in Australia⁸

1959

• USA Lean beef market development⁸

1960     

• Australian Sheep herd 155M¹⁰
• Petrodollars Money – Middle East had significant discoveries of oil and lifted living standards in those countries, created a building boom, workers mainly from 3^rd world muslim countries¹⁰             pg 28
• 1^st shipment to Middle East. 2500 Australian sheep £6, 14 shillings and 4 pence a head including fodder for voyage¹⁰Pg 28

1967    

• UK – had outbreak of FMD⁸

1970’s 

• BTEC began – stopped 1989. Cost $800M
• Large cattle numbers and slaughter rates in 1970’s prompted significant expansion in processing capacity in QLD, with an increase in capacity of 32% between 1975 – 1982 (Rolfe 1988). The plants then faced work practices characterised by single shifts and a tight tally’s system. Most of the expansion met through construction of new plant, which was also needed to meet export standards in many of the overseas markets³
• Sheep live exports significant – Middle east, Cattle SE Asia⁸
• Economic downturn in the 70’s led to drops in global beef demand⁸
• 4 out of 5 meatworks in North Australia had their export licences withdrawn –
• “inability to fullfill obligations under the meat board diversification scheme in Australia”⁸
• Australian sheep herd 180M¹⁰Pg 37

1973 

• Australian sheep herd 142.3M¹⁰Pg 37

1974     

• Beef Crash – caused by major loss of markets USA & Japan, severe drought started. Cattle prices plunged to lowest level in 30 years.⁴
• Herd shrank by more than 60%⁵
• Oil prices crisis triggered global collapse⁴

1975     

• LE to SE Asia re-emerge on a small scale after years of inactivity⁵
• LE mainly to Malaysia, Philippines and then in early 90’s to Indonesia⁸
• National Beef herd 32.8M¹⁰Pg 42
• National Sheep herd 127.5M¹⁰ Pg 42

1978  

• AMIEU – picket line 4 weeks, prevented sheep being loaded onto ship, Feedlot Adelaide Virginia 90,000hd sheep. Were losing sheep due to rain and cold weather, Waterside workers unions also striked in support.Unions lead by Bob Hawke. Public rally supported by Farmers 10,000 against the union 4^th April 1978. Operation Sheeplift – loaded at Wallaroo.¹⁰Pg 43
• Meat Processing in trouble – didn’t have enough outlets for all the meat it was processing, yet LE was thriving at significantly higher prices, LE was shipping aged merinos, not suitable to slaughter in Aust, AMIEU still picketed¹⁰Pg 49

 1980’s  

• Cyclical downturn in slaughter numbers occurred in the early 1980’s, rationalisation was required. Industry commission inquiry in 1983 recommended market forces rather than government intervention be allowed to drive the changes.³
• Plant closures of the late 1980’s was in response to rationalisation pressures. Most plants that were closed were the older, inefficient plants that reached the end of their operating life(Reynolds and Sangster 1998b).³

1984

• Australian Meat Holdings (AMH) formed – was pivotal in rationalising the meat processing sector in QLD– consortium of 4 meat processing companies, Including Elders (who bought other partners out in 1988) who then sold to USA processor (ConAgra)1993-1996.

1984 – 1986 

• AMH closed 5 plants of the initial 11 owned by the consortium – utilisation rates had fallen to 32%

1989   

• BTEC finalised⁴.

1990’s 

• By the 1990’s, plant closures tended to be forced by financial losses rather than operating inefficiencies³
• USA market health regulations forced many abattoirs across Australia to shut down⁸

(Not sure when actually occurred – ????????)

1993   

• Live cattle exports to Asia and Middle East 147,000hd¹

1994  

• Live cattle exports to Asia and Middle east 290,000hd¹

1993 

• Beginning of Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (EBA)

1994    

• disputes and lock out at Rockhampton AMH abattoir

1996  

• EBA’s introduced – Previously tally system has set rates of pay and also rate of productivity. Any new investment in efficiency meant workers just reached minimum tally in a shorter time. Tally system removed, increased production levels³.
• EBA allowed multiple shifts,reduced penalties and shift loads, longer working days and increased pay rates. 30-40% increase in effective capacity. Lead to 40% reduction in unit costs³.
• AMH if gained a 4% efficiency achieved a net gain of $62M over 10 years, industry wide net gain would yield $404 net gain³

2006

• Innisfail Meatworks closed leaving Townsville as only Northern abattoir in QLD⁵.

2010 

“Last weeks QLD cattle kill of 43,700 hd was 40% below the same week last year, The extreme low rates of kill are also reflected in industry statistics showing that for the 3 months ended January 30, Australian beef exports to the US reached just 38,000t a far cry from the same period in 08/09 of 70,000t²

2011

• Live Export ban to Indonesia.

2012  

• Carbon tax introduction – $23/t for over 25,000t of greenhouse emissions.Europe payint $9.80/t⁶
• Australian Export Meat Inspection System (AEMIS) introduced⁷
• “AEMIS  utilises the presence of full-time government  veterinarian assessing the incoming stock and oversighting the production and inspection process, and a full time government food safety meat assessor inspecting”⁷
• “The system is subject to external audits from senior Australian government veterinarians and by foreign officials representing many of our major trading partners”⁷
• One processor says will add $100,000 in costs over next 12 months⁷
• May. JBS arrived in Australia 2007, “despite $500m investment on improvements and upgrades, the cost of production of beef relative to major international competitors has actually worsened” JBS CEO Andre Nofueira¹²

2013  

• February. QLD cattlemarket indicator (QCMI) 1985 $70.80 buy the same amount of goods in todays $ would cost $180.70 – prices are 30% lower in real terms than what they were in 85⁹
• March. Near record weekly kill tally – 81601, close to all time record July 2001¹¹
• Young cattle indicator slipped 12c/kg, some grids back by 20c/kg
•  

Sources

1. ‘The past is before us’, The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. Undated

www.historycooperative.org/proceedings/asslh/index.html

1. ‘Abattoirs under stress’Beef Central 22.02.10
2. Competition and Exit in Meat Processing:A QLD Case Study. Agribusiness review 1999

References with their articles (Rolfe 1988),(Reynolds and Sangster 1998b)

1. ‘North’s Beef Powerhouse’ Nth QLD Register 22.11.12
2. ‘100 years of Northern Beef Production’ Nth QLD Register 22.11.12
3. ‘Processors beef with carbon tax’ Nth QLD Register 06.09.12
4. ‘Exporters query E.coli blow-up’ QLD Country Life 31.05.12
5. ‘Sailing ahead’ Annabelle Coppin 2009
6. ‘Beef Prices at historic lows necessitates focus on cost of production’ Beef Central 18.02.13
7. ‘The Australian Livestock Export trade’ Nigel Austin 2011
8. ‘Record QLD kill reflects ‘avalanche’ or dry weather cattle’ Beef Central 19.03.13
9. ‘JBS heads calls for industry-wide focus on competitiveness’ Beef Central 17.05.12