RESPECT built in 25 years trading wool into China has given Quality Wool a foothold as a food retailer in the world’s largest population.
It is selling premium Australian full-blood Wagyu beef to China under a new venture called Quality Foods Australia.
Two years ago, the successful family-owned company began sourcing Wagyu from Qld and WA feedlotters for export to high-end hotels, food service and retailers in China.
QFA recently won the contract to market beef for Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting’s 2GR Wagyu brand.
Last month, the first shipment of 2GR frozen product was sent from John Dee abattoir at Warwick, Qld, to China and next week the first chilled consignment of 2GR prime Wagyu beef will be airfreighted.
QFA managing director Mark Dyson said he was often asked about Australia’s red meat while on wool business trips.
But health scares, such as SARS and avian influenza and China’s baby formula scandal, convinced him of the business opportunity.
“Trust is everything to them and it takes years to build relationships,” he said.
“Good food biosecurity is their number one consideration, which we can offer.”
In a short time, QFA has grown from shipping one six-metre container of boned-out, frozen beef out of Brisbane every six weeks, to exporting two a month.
Each container comprises meat from about 50 carcases.
“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to work with Gine Rinehart and the 2GR brand and bring what is a unique product to the Chinese market and establish it in five-star restaurants in China,” Mr Dyson said.
He said QFA was progressing well, but the partnership was in addition to the existing agribusiness.
Quality Wool brokers about 140,000 bales a year – about 10 per cent of the national clip.
“We are still very wool and livestock orientated but with the market transitioning in China we saw a growth opportunity to supply clean food,” Mr Dyson said.
“Our main focus is Wagyu, which is special, and we want to focus on pure-blood or full-blood Wagyu where the marbling and texture is superior than F1s or F2s.”
Aussie red meat makes the cut
Australian agriculture is well-positioned to capitalise on the Asian Century with the Chinese seeing red meat as key to both their and their family’s health and wellbeing, according to Quality Foods Australia managing director Mark Dyson.
“Consumers are much more discerning about what they want to buy and the story behind it, which has helped wool ahead of the man-made fibres – it is the same with beef,” he said.
In November, QFA opened a retail store at Ningbo in the Zhejiang Province.
The two-storey building comprises a butcher shop and Teppanyaki restaurant showcasing different cooking methods to customers.
A second store is set to open in Shanghai, a city of 24 million people, in the middle of the year.
“Our direct link between Wagyu and the Chinese consumer is key,” Mr Dyson said.
“We are marketing the whole beast, finding the best market for each cut, just like we do with each bit of the wool clip.”
