TheBeefSite Newsletter - 12 January

Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: International Trade Starts Strong

With beef demand exceeding domestic beef production, the Turkish government is extending the period of lower import tariffs, which will remain in place until the end of 2011.

The import duty for beef carcases will remain at 30 per cent, as opposed to the usual 225 per cent. Since Turkey reduced import tariffs last October, it imported around 22,000 tonnes in the space of two months, the vast majority from Europe.

Russia has announced that it will double the US's frozen beef quota allocation from 21,700 to 41,700 MT.

Whilst this is good news for the US, the Russian government has warned that this increase in quota will result in significant reductions for "other countries".

Japanese beef imports during November 2010 surged by 50 per cent year-on-year, with the frozen beef intake jumping 105 per cent on the relatively low volumes 12 months earlier.

Australia was a major contributor to the increase in frozen beef imports during November, with shipments increasing 78 per cent on 2009.

Producers in Australia are being warned of increased animal disease risks, due to the extreme flooding. A number of diseases including three-day sickness, akabane, blackleg, leptospirosis and botulism can be all be fatal to cattle.

Foot and mouth disease is still sweeping across South Korea, devastating the agriculture economy. Bulgarian authorities have also confirmed an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in cattle, swine and wild boar.

Charlotte Johnston

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 3 new features this week:

EU Beef Market Prospects
Following difficult trading conditions due to weak market demand, particularly for higher value cuts, the European beef market has shown signs of stabilising over recent months as a combination of tighter availability and a more positive currency situation has helped the trade, says Padraig Brennan from Bord Bia.

Beef Production From The Dairy Herd
At a recent dairy calf to beef conference in Ireland, Padraig French from Teagasc, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, looked at current trends in beef production from the dairy herd.

Pig And Cattle Diets To Control Salmonella
Researchers in Ireland's Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown and University College Dublin showed that manipulating diet can reduce the survival of Salmonella in pig faeces, but overall control of Salmonella in cattle and pigs requires additional measures. They also found a correlation between antibiotic resistance and the ability of Salmonella to survive in animal digestive systems.