In 2003-2004, recalls an Australian mining entrepreneur, the Chinese came to us asking if we could get more supplies of coal. Now they come to ask: do you know any other beef suppliers?
On the one hand there is the physiological slowdown of the Chinese economy, which becomes less voracious of raw materials. On the other hand, there is the expansion of the middle classes and the tendency to adopt Western nutritional models, with a greater demand for red meat and dairy products.
Liu Yonghao, the chairman of the giant Hope Group (a conglomerate covering feed and beef and pork, chicken, milk and cereals) is shopping farms in Australia: the latest acquisition is the Kilcoy Pastoral Company, which slaughters every year about 270 head of cattle in Queensland.
Mr. Andrew Forrest, an Australian mining magnate, had an interview with Chinese premier Li Keqiang, who confided that the first priority for China was the security of food supplies. Hence the idea of a “Sino-Australia 100-Year Agricultural and Food Safety Partnership” (or ASA 100). Mr. Forrest said Australia could increase beef production by 50% if it secured a prime supply position to China. A Rabobank study predicts that China will double its beef imports by 2018.
