Contribution and Potential Opportunities of Australian Meat and Livestock Industry

Running head: ECONOMICS ASSIGNMENT
Economics Assignment
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1ECONOMICS ASSIGNMENT
Contribution to rural area population:
The cattle and livestock industry of Australia has offered employment opportunity to
almost 200000 people among which the livestock export sector has employed above 10000
people (Howden, Martin, Nelson and Zammit 2018). Most of those people belong from
remote areas, where the option of alternative employment is very limited. Hence, people of
indigenous parts have huge economical benefits from this sector by earning revenue.
Moreover, through exporting products of this industry, people of rural areas have received
huge social benefit as they can maintain minimum standard of living and can maintain their
basic needs as well. This industry has captured significant position in South Australia and
Western Australia. People of those areas have obtained diversified markets that allow them to
receive a better and stable return in the form of revenue or profit. Moreover, vast land grazing
has other positive factor that helps those rural areas to produce more cattle. Thus, this
industry has significant contribution in rural areas.
Potential opportunities and threats to Australian meat and livestock industry:
International Competition:
Australia exports almost 60% of its total beef production to Korea Japan and the
United States. After discovering of BSE disease among animals in Japan, Korea and the
United States, Australia has advantage to export this product by more amounts (Marshall,
Taylor, Heyenga and Butler 2018). Moreover, compare to breeding systems in other parts of
the world, cattle of this county has increased due to large grazing land, which has remained
one of the chief sources of feed.

2ECONOMICS ASSIGNMENT
Figure : Beef export of Australia in 2015-16
Source: (Howden, Martin, Nelson and Zammit 2018)
According to Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), the country has remained one of
the efficient producers of cattle and consequently they can meet maximum demand for this
product in world market. Hence, internationally Australia has around 3 percent of the cattle
and buffalo inventory in the world while Brazil, India and China have taken top three
positions while Australia has produced 4 percent of the total beef supply of the world.
Climate:
Climate change influenced livestock production significantly and for this, it is an
essential factor to discuss regarding this topic. Due this changing climate, livestock
production in Western Australia has affected in various ways as some regions get benefits
and some not. Increasing temperature in winter and early spring help heavy rainfall areas in
the south-west to reduce waterlogging that further can benefit livestock production through
increasing forage production for cattle (Wiedemann et al. 2015). Moreover, this changing
climate helps to survive young animals during wet and cold periods. However, in northern