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Calls for a greater focus on exporting to Arab nations

Posted August 10, 2015 16:13:20

Middle East business advocates are calling for a greater focus on Australian agricultural exports to Arab nations.

The Australia Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industry spent last week touring South Australia, selling the export benefits of the Middle East.

CEO, Suzannah Moss-Wright, said Australia must not simply rely on China for a prosperous export future.

"Recently the Arab world has overtaken China as a larger export market for red meat; that's including sheep meat and beef chilled and frozen," she said.

"We often hear so much about the trade opportunities with China but in fact the Arab world is surpassing China in terms of opportunities for red meat.

"This is a huge opportunity for Australian agriculture because we really do need to look at market diversification."

Meat and Livestock Australia figures show lamb exports increased 11 per cent in volume and 30 per cent in value in 2014.

The top market was the United States, followed by China, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain.

Mutton exports increased 8 per cent in 2014, with the top five markets China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the US and UAE.

Lamb exports to Middle East and north African nations were worth more than $410 million, with mutton exports worth more than $250,000.

MLA beef figures show total exports increased 17 per cent globally in 2014, with the value increasing 36 per cent.

The top market was the United States, followed by Japan, South Korea, China and Indonesia.

Saudi Arabia was ninth, with the UAE 14th, Jordan 16, Kuwait 18, Morocco 21nd and Egypt 22nd.

Australia exported 60,249 tonnes of beef to the Middle East and north Africa in 2014; trade that was worth almost $390 million.

Twenty-two nations make up the Arab League.

Ms Moss-Wright said she wanted a greater governmental focus on Arab nations.

She said exports to the middle east had been on a gradual, long-term increase in recent years, while China offered greater volatility.

"Potentially there is a bit of an inherent bias within the Australian community to not really look at the opportunities in the Arab world in the same way," she said.

"The Australian Government has done a fantastic job promoting China and I think we've been very focused as a country on China for a number of years.

"We certainly see the benefits of that focus coming into our trade statistics.

"But the Arab world has always been an important trading partner for Australian agriculture and it's been somewhat neglected on the trade front for a number of years but the Australian Government.

"Meanwhile, the market has just continued to chip away and grow consistently over time."

Topics: sheep-production, livestock, beef-cattle, agricultural-prices, agribusiness, agricultural-policy, adelaide-5000, united-arab-emirates, kuwait, saudi-arabia

Original author: Brett Worthington

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