There is no good replacement for Western Australia’s live sheep trade, Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis has conceded, as the industry grapples with its looming closure.
Nothing at present can fully replace Western Australia’s live sheep trade, Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis has conceded, as her federal counterpart prepares to reveal the date he plans to shut down the industry.
Her statement comes as anger rages on around the federal government’s plan to honour its election commitment to end the live sheep export trade, a move which will primarily impact Western Australia where 99 per cent of sheep are shipped from.
Ms Jarvis revealed she had been informed federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt would announce when he plans to phase-out live sheep exports before the end of the year.
That date, likely to be beyond the next election, is being eagerly awaited in WA to calm uncertainty around how long producers will have to overhaul their businesses and account for the loss of the $143 million trade.
Speaking at the Australia Association of Ag Consultants’ annual sector outlook on Friday, Ms Jarvis said there were no solutions at present to fully replace WA’s live sheep trade.
“Farmers will exit sheep, which I think is not great because livestock in a farming system is actually better for farming systems (and) better for your risk management,” she said.
“I am going to talk to markets for boxed sheep, but I know that is not going to be a perfect solution.
“The reality is the state government… doesn't control export approvals and permits and we have no legislative role unfortunately in this space.”
Ms Jarvis said she was talking to abattoirs about increasing capacity to cushion the blow when the ban takes place.
The looming ban comes on top of a torrid year for the sheep industry hit hard by significant offloading over east in anticipation of droughts and the collapse of sheep meat prices to as low as $2 a head.
V&V Walsh general manager Brent Dancer said demand from China for high-end products was still reeling in the wake of COVID-19.
“We can sell mutton all day long at the moment at a price, but lamb, real struggle,” he said.
“The severity of the decrease we've seen in the lamb price, recently, the drop in actual pricing of the final product was dropping quicker than that lamb price.”
But Mr Dancer said there were signs prices could begin to rebound ahead of Chinese New Year in early 2024.
“This isn't a three-, four- or five-year prospect, we are hoping it is a six to 12 month at worst… it might be at about three to five months,” he said.
“If anything, probably this side of Christmas we are hoping that we start to see the prices climb slightly again.”
