HALLELUJAH, we are saved and we have Saint Tony and Saint Barnaby to thank.
Imagine the celebrations at the announcement of a deal to supply China with $1 billion worth of cattle, and the political capital that the coalition is making in regional areas of Australia.
It is a figure that slides very nicely off the tongue, a sum that makes people marvel at their good fortune.
It is also a figure that makes me sceptical about the reality of the deal, and its downsides.
As with most grand announcements of this kind, details are fairly sketchy.
I know that it is early days and patience is a virtue, but I am not the virtuous type.
Nor do I think are the proprietors of Australia's many export abattoirs, who must be wondering what impact it will have.
Many producers have the viewpoint that most buyers are rip-off merchants, who try to buy stock for less than they are worth at every opportunity.
Regardless of these views I believe that we have been well served by the processing community, particularly in the past 10 years.
There appears to be far less volatility in prices due to burgeoning demand for Australian product throughout the world, and processor numbers are generally stable.
I am not exactly ancient but I remember the days when the big players were Metro Meat, Gilbertsons, and Borthwick - where are they now?
I am not an apologist for the processing sector but a live export deal of this magnitude does worry me, as it can have serious repercussions for exporters of chilled and frozen beef.
The current thought is that China will take about 50,000 cattle in the next 12 months, worth roughly $1 million.This will increase to about 1m head in a couple of years, with prices tipped to rise to about $3 a kilogram liveweight.
Predictably, news of any live export industry expansion have created howls of protest and indignation from animal rights activists.
I am only an infrequent web browser but I thought I would visit some of the news forums dealing with this topic.
Some of the comments posted were so venomous that I genuinely worry that anything could happen.
Typical of the Australian Meat Industry Employees Union, a Qld branch spokesman forecast that thousands of jobs were in jeopardy, with a prediction of cataclysmic effects on rural communities.
Predictions that retail prices of beef would skyrocket was another point that caught my eye.
Perhaps there is an element of truth to this, but maybe the Australian public has had it too cheap for too long?
In a recent Stock Journal Flashback written by Richard James he mentioned a cattle carcase competition and that Marino Meats paid $2.46/kg lw for the top steers. That was in 1991 and remains an unbelievable price compared to grainfed yearling steers at $1.70/kg lw in 2014.
* Full report in Stock Journal, November 13, 2014 issue.
