The red meat exporters looking to exploit new opportunities

There are around 75 export registered red meat processing establishments in Australia at present but the Department of Agriculture, the department that issues the Health Certificate and Quota Certificate for any shipment and that sets and oversees the standards on all export plants, has close to 400 licensed meat exporters on their books.

So who makes up the remaining list of exporters?

They are generally termed as Non Packer Exporters (NPE's).

Some are quite large and conduct more business than many single plant processors. The majority however are much smaller and many just specialise in one market or product.

The top 20 NPE's would represent over 80pc of the total volume of the 300 odd NPE's put together.

To export red meat from Australia, the individual or company must be licensed by DAFF.

The integrity and reputation of the Australian export sector is always at stake with every shipment. The removal of "fly by nighters" that could damage the Australian export reputation is an important component of the licensing process.

To get an export license the department assesses any application for competency across three areas: technical ability (assessed by AUS-MEAT), financial standing and personnel or company integrity.

Any exporter seeks to minimise risk and maximise returns.

In the export market however, often increased returns come with increased risk.

Processors tend to be more risk averse because they have a lot to protect.

Australia however, more than any other global red meat exporter, has a cache of very experienced and knowledgeble NPE's that are willing to absorb increased risk in seeking to identify and exploit new opportunities.

Sometimes referred to in the past as "brokers', NPE's usually buy product ex the works, FOB ( Free on Board) or FAS (Free along side), (the latter terms essentially relate to whether the port cranes are on the vessel or mostly these days on the wharf.)

The NPE then usually sells CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) accepting the export risk, insurance, financing and trade exposure that comes with getting the shipment to market, passing customs /quarantine and ultimately getting paid.

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In some cases banks have been more willing to finance NPE's than some processors because they had more liquid capital as collateral.

The larger NPE's have also often been more agile in seeking to fund their margin out of better freight and exchange rates than the processor could.

Beef diversification quota schemes to the US of the past encouraged NPE's to seek out opportunities in new markets such as Eastern Europe and Africa.

NPE's became very experienced in specific markets and with specific products. Their contribution to the success of the Australian red meat export sector has often been underestimated.

When JBS first bought into the Australian export processing sector in 2007, they were impressed with the international experience and market knowledge of the Australian red meat export sector relative to what they had experienced in the US.

Many of the initial international traders they established in their new trading operation in Denver at the time came out of the Australian industry.

With the removal of quotas in the US beef market, the term "broker" has largely disappeared. NPE's have all had to become much more customer focussed where they can add value to the supply chain that an individual processor with different objectives around throughput may not be able to.

NPE's often take on increased risk for processors by moving unwanted product or difficult loads to complex and risky markets.

There are many examples where NPE's have opened new markets for the Australian industry.

The opening of the Korean beef market by a young Richard Rains in 1976, then working with Dalgety as a NPE and later Sanger International, still stands as a great example of early risk being accepted by an NPE to show the potential of a new market.

Korea has subsequently been developed by the major packers into one of Australia's largest beef customers.

Bill Luttick of Luttick Australia in Melbourne has had over 45 years experience in marketing beef and sheepmeat as a NPE to the retail, restaurant and foodservice sectors in the United Kingdom and Europe.

"Processors have in the main" he says "tended to focus on the major and less risky markets such as Japan, Korea, China and the US while smaller or specialist markets such as Mauritius, the Carribbean, the Seychelles, Croatia, Slovenia, the Reunion Islands to name a few, as well as many of the smaller markets in Asia and the Middle East have been developed and serviced by NPE's".

Enzymes extracted from calf vells (dried calf stomachs) are widely used for the production of high quality cheeses in Europe.

Luttick Australia has also specialised in procuring calf vells across Australia over many decades in exportable quantities that most packers would be unlikely to try independently and as a consolidated shipment, maximised the return.

They use to say that on any day in the year, Australia had over 20 people in the air in the form of processor or NPE sales staff somewhere in the world marketing Australian meat products.

Australian livestock producers should be confident that remains just as true today and at a level of sophistication most other exporting countries envy.