Victorian beef industry reacts to US tariff announcement

Agents at Leongatha and Mortlake were asked about the impact of US President Donald Trump's new tariffs. Video by Barry Murphy and Monique Patterson.

Transcript

00:00I think there might be an impact down the track. I think in the Australian beef industry

00:05it's definitely going to be a numbers driven thing and a supply demand at the moment,

00:12but I think it's going to be a wait and see scenario and hopefully it doesn't affect us

00:18too strongly, but I think there will be an impact of some description, but just knowing how much we

00:24don't know. Biosecurity has been in since 2003 and it's in for a reason to protect Australia,

00:33our farmers and everything, and my idea is I'd be sticking to that. They did have Nant Cow over

00:40there in 2003, so that's a fair while ago, but that's why their meat's not allowed in and that's

00:48why it won't be coming in. He's got his views and everything else, but it looks like it could

00:54be around, when things settle down, it might be 10%. They're in desperate need of meat in America

01:02and we're very lucky we've got it to supply, although now with what's happened in Queensland

01:08with the loss of a lot of cattle, it'll be just interesting to see what does happen.

01:13We knew something was going to happen, but we'll have to just wait and see how it's all played

01:16out. Well, I think it's on the forefront of everyone's mind exactly how it will. I've certainly

01:20had plenty of clients ask me the question. We don't really know, but I think there's plenty

01:27of scope in this cattle job still to get dearer. I think supply and demand is going to be the

01:33biggest driver. I think they don't have the cattle numbers over there. We've got the best beef in the

01:38world here, so I'm pretty confident it's not going to have too much of an impact on us. Time will

01:43tell over the next coming weeks and months, but as supply tightens here in our livestock markets,

01:50I can't see our prices having too much of a backwards trend. I think as cattle get shorter,

01:57this cattle job might even get dearer as we move closer into the winter months.