HOW Brazil views the Australian live export industry as its competitor will be the focus of a key presentation at the livestock export conference, LIVEXchange.
Former chief executive of JBS Australia, Iain Mars - now the chief operating officer for Brazil Beef, Minerva Foods – is returning to Australia to give his view from a competing country and what his expectations are for the future as a keynote speaker at the conference.
The conference is at the Darwin Convention Centre on November 25-26.
Mr Mars has more than 34 years’ experience in the meat industry, working in a number of senior management positions in over 10 countries and during his time in Australia was a Meat and Livestock Australia board director.
While Mr Mars left his position as JBS Australia’s CEO in 2012, he is best known throughout the meat industry for the redevelopment and redirection of JBS Australia. Through acquisitions and infrastructure development, Mr Mars doubled the company in size during his tenure.
Mr Mars said he was looking forward to returning to Darwin, the city he began his long association with the Australian meat industry back in 1984 with W. Angliss Co meatworks.
A specialist in business building and development, Mr Mars is expected to provide an interesting insight in to the meat and livestock export industry.
Australian Livestock Exporter’s Council chief executive officer Alison Penfold said Mr Mars was someone everyone in the meat and live export industries respected.
“I expect we will learn a lot about where Brazil is heading with their live export industry and how they view the Australian trade.”
Brazil is a competitor to Australia’s live export industry, specifically in the Egyptian market.
According to official figures, Brazil exported 517,906 cattle in 2013, with their largest customers Venezuela, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt, while they also supply Jordan.
Ms Penfold said Brazil has made their intentions clear about their interest in the South East Asian live export trade, especially Indonesia, so it will be helpful to hear what their expectations are for the future of their trade and ours.
LIVEXchange will host a number of international speakers, including renowned livestock handling expert Dr Temple Grandin and the World Organisation for Animal Health and Welfare director general Dr Bernard Vallat.
LIVEXchange is a partnership between LiveCorp, Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council (ALEC) and the Northern Territory Livestock Exporters Association (NTLEA).
