Friday, December 13, 2024

‘It shows there is gouging’: Farmer finds Australian beef selling cheaper in Japanese supermarket

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On a recent visit to Japan, a New South Wales farmer was shocked to find Australian beef selling in Tokyo for less than you can find it in Coles and Woolworths.

Andrew Dunlop runs cattle on his property in southern New South Wales and has spent his career working in the red meat industry, including 15 years in Japan.

Last month, he returned to Japan to find Australian cubed beef for sale at $18.35 a kilogram, around $2 to $4 a kilo cheaper than in major Australian supermarkets.

In Australia, Coles cubed beef is currently listed online for $22 a kilo, while a Woolworths rump steak is listed online for $28 per kilo. 

Mr Dunlop said the meat he saw on sale in Tokyo was from the Hanamasa retail network, which has been described by some industry outlets as a “discount retailer”.

He said he was surprised that exporters could buy meat in the same market as the big Australian supermarkets, absorb the cost of international shipping and a 25 per cent import tariff, and still be comparable in price to the Australian market.

Thinly sliced Australian beef being retailed at 198 yen per 100g ($19.20 per kg) at a supermarket in central Tokyo.(Supplied: Andrew Dunlop)

“I could see finely sliced product that would be equivalent to our stir fry product retailed in Australia,” he said.

“And I saw casserole or cubed product for what they do, which is a beef curry.

“I saw a rump steak and they were all seemingly pretty competitive with what we would be paying here.”

beef package in Japan

Well-trimmed Australian beef cubes for casserole (used for beef curry in Japan) was retailing in Tokyo at 189 yen per 100g ($18.35 per kg). 

Mr Dunlop says it’s another sign of concentrated supermarket power and increased profit margins from supermarkets.

“The Japanese retail industry is not concentrated like it is here,” he said.

“Any individual retailer in Japan probably has at most a 10 per cent share of the market, although there will be some regional differences.”

John Gunthorpe, chair of the Australian Cattle Industry Council, said Australian meat was well trimmed and presented without much fat or sinew.

“The prices and the quality of presentation of the meat are far better than anything that we get here in Australia,” he said.

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