Cattle Council welcomes ACCC beef industry report, calls for greater price transparency
Updated
The Cattle Council of Australia has backed recommendations to overhaul its industry but called for additional efforts to improve price transparency.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's interim report made 14 recommendations aimed at improving fairness in meat pricing and reporting.
In particular, Cattle Council president Howard Smith welcomed the changes around objective carcass measurements.
The ACCC has recommended more robust auditing of carcass grade systems, audits which would then be made publicly available - a move Mr Smith also supported.
"The biggest one dear to a lot of people's hearts is getting objective carcass measurements as soon as possible, and we think that is a way forward to open and transparent grading systems," he said.
"It will have other add-on benefits... it might even lead to the ability to do value-based marketing."
The ACCC also recommended making pricing information public in a more timely and detailed manner, as well as easier to understand.
Saleyard transparency needs more work
Mr Smith said he believed there was more work needed around pricing transparency.
Some recommendations call for the introduction of a mandatory 'buyers register', which would be made public before a livestock sale.
It would include details of commission buyers and the entities they act for but Mr Smith was wary of such a suggestion.
"We have got to be careful ... there is only 6 per cent of prime cattle sold through saleyards and significantly more store cattle so we have got to make sure that it is user friendly and transparent.
"We do not want to any impost on to make it more difficult for people to operate in that environment."
When it comes to producer understanding, the report highlighted the need for Cattle Council and other bodies to "lead a better flow of information."
Mr Smith said progress was already being made in that area, particularly through more information days.
"It was not that long ago we had one in Blackall [and] it was very well received and well run and I think that is the issue now days ... the world has moved on very quickly to a flat-rate type payment system and it is more complex," he said.
"The premiums and the margins are larger, so it is imperative that people have an understanding of what the grid means."
In a statement to ABC Rural, the Australian Meat Industry Council said it was already working to address a number of the issues raised in the ACCC's interim report.
Topics: rural, livestock, beef-cattle, agricultural-prices, agricultural-marketing, agricultural-policy, agribusiness, mackay-4740
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