Farming Talk: We need shift in attitudes to ensure supply

We are all aware of the continuing global demand for beef, but a shift in attitudes is needed by all involved to maintain a guaranteed UK supply.

Ultimately, guaranteeing supplies of beef amid a global shortening of the product requires everyone in the supply chain to fully understand the current market conditions.

It is a significant achievement to re-establish ourselves as a global player since beef exports recommenced in 2006 and it does bring significant benefits to the economy.

A thriving red meat sector has a net worth of £1.7 billion a year to the economy and UK exports of beef and fifth quarter in 2011 were worth £438 million.

However, this re-emergence and success in international trade brings both opportunities and threats. We are at the mercy to some extent of international market forces and have to work hard to manage the risk.

Eblex has launched a new state-of-the industry report called Balancing the Market, highlighting the changes that have taken place over the last few years as the UK re-established itself on the global beef market, and examining the potential risks of this new position.

This will create new challenges, and a strategic shift in attitude and approach is needed to ensure supply chains are secured to weather this storm.

Central to this is a better understanding of the operations and goals of each link in the chain by the other links.

Farmers, processors – and particularly retailers – all need to learn to understand each other and the forces that affect their respective enterprises.

We need an era of greater co-operation to tackle shared challenges.

Long-established working practices of simply looking to buy more cheaply from alternative markets if domestic product becomes scarce or is considered too expensive are unlikely to be sustainable as global supply continues to tighten.

As I said earlier, there are huge benefits from us being a major player on the world beef trading market again. It is this which has contributed significantly to the higher prices now being enjoyed by producers.

However, there are also risks which everyone in the industry needs to fully understand to help them plan accordingly.

Balancing the Market follows the 2009 Eblex report, In The Balance?, which examined the decline of the beef sector over the course of the previous 20 years and suggested a longer-term, global view was needed to help the sector regain its competitive position.

An electronic version of Balancing the Market can be downloaded free from the publications section of www.eblex.org.uk

Clive Brown, senior northern regional manager, Eblex