Beef might be off the Christmas menu for several Australians this year with prices constantly to dramatically rise.
Australian Food News shared that Australian domestic beef prices have more than double over the past year with drought hitting Australian farms hard. It should be noted that supply and demand is not the only cause of the surging local market prices.
As a matter of fact, Meat and Livestock Australian (MLA) said it is expecting the yearly cattle slaughter for 2015 to hit an unprecedented high, which is in line with the record figures experienced over the past three years.
"This will be the third consecutive year of cattle slaughter exceeding eight million head, something that's never been seen before. As a result, beef production is estimated to reach 2.46 million tonnes cwt - which will be the second highest volume ever," Market Information for MLA Manager Ben Thomas said.
High prices are forecasted to continue into 2016 largely because strong international demand for Australian mean impacted the price while the Australian dollar remains weak. Australia is currently the world's third largest exporter of beef.
Australian domestic bacon prices remained at a record high despite recent research from the World Health Organization (WHO) which linked the consumption of processed meats such as bacon to cancer.
An ABC Rural report informed that the price of bacon has been forcing several Australians to look for low-priced alternatives. It was even divulged that baconer pigs averaged more than AUD44.00 per kilogram live weight on Nov. 5, 2015 at the Dublin pig sale in South Australia, a 45 cent per kilo increase on the prior week.
"In stark contrast to 2013, where high goat supply placed downward pressure on prices, the national average over-the-hook (OTH) export goat prices during 2014 shot up 50% year-on-year, as most weight categories averaged 300¢/kg cwt (10.1-12kg cwt to 20.1kg+ cwt)," the MLA reported in its latest goat meat industry analysis," MLA reported recently.
