Richard Koch, an agricultural economist and business intelligence analyst with Elders, argues in a column for Beef Central that while the Australian cattle industry has made great strides in recent decades, the supply of market information and price transparency has gone backwards in parts of the supply chain. The views are the writer's own.
Koch says accurate and timely information on herd size, the calf crop and feeder cattle supplies is essential for planning, yet agents and processors often disagree on whether the numbers exist, a circular argument without trusted data. He sees an information gap along the chain: processors have almost perfect sight of producer returns, but feedlots are reluctant to share even basic data on feeding margins, and processing margins are a "black box".
The benchmarks used to value Australian beef are also less useful than they were, he writes. The USDA's US lean beef prices, especially the 90CL cow beef benchmark, remain the most widely used guide to the international value of Australian beef, but they are becoming less relevant to heavy steer values as grainfed and chilled beef production grows. US exports to North Asia now focus on single cuts, such as short ribs in Korea, and Japanese fullset prices no longer map neatly onto what local processors pay.
Processors have said for most of this year that international beef prices have not kept pace with rising Australian cattle prices. Koch says that without transparent indicators the claim lacks evidence, which also feeds unfounded accusations that processors are "crying poor". Comparing Australian heavy steer prices with the USDA Choice grade cut-out, he finds they mostly track each other, and his margin chart supports processors' complaints that margins fell this year after relatively attractive conditions from mid-2023 to late 2025.
He proposes an industry roundtable where engaged stakeholders identify where market reporting falls short and decide what can be fixed, starting with the topics likely to cause the least friction.
Photo: CSIRO / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Source: Beef Central
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