Australian beef is "out of the circle" in China!
On the one hand, there is the continued growth of Australian beef in the Chinese market. Public data shows that in 2022, China will be the largest export market for Australian red meat, the third largest exporter of Australian beef, and the largest export destination of Australian lamb.
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, from January to September 2023, Australia's total beef imports have reached a record 1690,000 tonnes, and as of Nov. 7, 196,349 tonnes of the import trigger level have been reached.
On the other hand, there is the intensive activity of "Australian beef" for the Chinese market. From November 28th to January 30th, there were five consecutive "Australian Beef Ambassadors - Taste of Queensland" China Tour series of activities to meet with you. Prior to this, Australian beef also held nearly 100 roadshow events in more than 10 cities, attracting tens of thousands of consumers to participate.
Australian beef in the Chinese market is showing a situation of both supply and demand. So, represented by Australian beef, what kind of signal does the growth of imported beef and even the entire beef market send to us?
01 The gorgeous transformation of beef, the growth of C-end consumption and B-end application.
In the long run, beef is making a magnificent transformation in China. Even in the face of the current economic downturn and weak consumption environment, beef still shows a strong growth trend.
According to data from Zhiyan Consulting, the size of China's beef market will be about 8644 in 2022900 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 747%。The compound growth rate from 2015 to 2022 is about 1087%。At the same time, there is a growing gap between supply and demand in China's beef market. In 2022, China's beef production will be about 7.18 million tons, while the demand will be 986970,000 tons.
In this context, we can clearly observe the changes in beef consumption at the C-end: domestic production and imports have increased in both directions, and online and offline go hand in hand.
The first is the impact of the surge in demand, and in the absence of a rapid response to the increase in production, the beef market will become more dependent on imports to adjust the contradiction between supply and demand.
According to public data, China's beef imports have increased by 44 times in 10 years from 2012 to 2022, of which the top three export markets, including Australian beef, have contributed 2 3 percent of the imports.
Secondly, in addition to offline traditional vegetable farms and supermarkets, online has become the second largest battlefield for beef.
It is understood that at present, Australian beef has been launched on the online supermarkets of new retail platforms such as Dingdong and Hema and the layout of the Jingdong e-commerce platformDuring the same period**, Australian beef was sold at Sam's Club, Costco, and Ole'and other high-end supermarket stores to show their skills. Today's beef is no longer limited to traditional channels, and online has become an important scene for consumers to buy high-quality beef.
According to the "2022 Steak Consumption Trend Insights" report released by Tmall New Product Innovation Center and a number of authoritative institutions, the growth of high-end beef is even stronger, ** higher than that of ordinary beefThe consumption of high-grade beef, which is 7 times, has been on the rise for 6 consecutive years.
Behind this is the change in the overall perception of beef among Chinese people. Represented by beef, Chinese people who are increasingly pursuing healthy ingredients have begun to pay attention to the intake of red meat, and on the way to pursuing quality, Chinese people have also begun to study quality labels such as "Australian beef" and "grain-fed beef", and screen products through richer and more diversified channels.
Extending from the consumption side to the catering side, the changes of beef are also obvious, following the "hot pot standard", beef has become an important entrance for restaurants to create "popular dishes".
In addition to Western-style steak, the application of beef in the Chinese food scene has grown to the naked eye, among which crispy beef short ribs, snowflake beef cubes, beef noodles, and stir-fried beef have become popular dishes in many restaurants. In the series of activities of the Australian Red Meat Academy, many potential young chefs have also attracted many potential young chefs to improve their cooking skills to the "Australian Beef Ambassador", and at the same time understand and taste the natural, healthy, safe and delicious Australian beef products.
In the eyes of catering people, the delicious taste and high added value of beef form a pair of "best partners", which just caters to the needs of restaurants to create high-profit and popular dishes.
02 Why "Australian Cow"?The era of quality behind the boom in the import market.
After years of growth, China's per capita beef consumption is now second only to pork. In the process of continuous growth of China's beef market, the role of imported beef has to be mentioned.
According to public data, China's grain-fed beef imports increased by leaps and bounds between 2011 and 2023, which not only highlights the "favor" of imported beef in the Chinese market, but also reflects a consumer trend in China - consumer demand for high-quality beef is exploding.
The quality of beef consumption is also considered to be an important background factor in the popularity of Australian beef in China. So, through the quality trend of the beef market and the continuous growth of Australian beef in China, what kind of beef market can we see?
1. The import volume has surged, and global competition has accelerated the upgrading of domestic quality.
In addition to grain-fed beef, China's chilled beef imports are also soaring, with Australian beef also dominating. From a global perspective, the arrival of these high-quality imported beef has intensified the competition in China's beef market, and also promoted the quality iteration of China's beef market.
In particular, under the international situation of maintaining bilateral relations between China and Australia for many years and close exchanges, it has laid the foundation for the layout of Australian beef in China. In the announcement of the General Administration of Customs, the preferential tariff on Australian beef will be further reduced, and the preferential tariff exchange rate for Australian beef in China will be reduced to 1 in 20232%, which will be further reduced to zero tariffs in 2024.
Then, under the combined effect of consumer demand and environmental benefits, the growth of Australian beef in the Chinese market is predictable.
2. Branding, regional brands and corporate brands dominate the beef market, among which, the recognition of the "regional" label is higher.
There is not enough high-quality beef to sell", which is a common problem in the current beef market. Contemporary consumers are increasingly inclined to buy beef and related products with brand endorsement and guaranteed quality. In this context, well-known brands and beef with regional endorsement have become the common choice of consumers, and the regional labels formed by long-term consumption cognition have influenced people's beef consumption decisions.
Domestic such as Chaoshan fresh beef, Hebei Longhua beef, Quanzhou beef balls, etc., foreign such as Australian grain-fed beef, Japanese Wagyu beef, etc., for consumers, these strong regional labels are flavor and quality assurance. Australian grain-fed beef, for example, is transferred to a fattening farm when grass-fed cattle reach a certain weight or age, and carefully fed for at least 100 days on a special feed containing more than 5 kinds of whole grains. Benefiting from Australia's natural advantages in the breeding environment and the unique feeding methods of grain-fed cattle, Australian grain-fed cattle are more tender and juicy, and have a mellow taste, so they have become one of the main choices for Chinese consumers to buy high-quality steaks and roast pork slices.
3. Standardization, the standardization of the whole industry chain from breeding to production escorts the quality.
As always, the quality assurance determines the position of Australian beef in the international market, and the strict standardization system determines the quality assurance of Australian beef.
For a long time, the Australian red meat and livestock industry has been committed to food safety, integration and traceability, and has developed a series of strict standards and systems, including the Australian Meat Standards (MSA), which is a scientific and rigorous Australian beef and mutton quality grading system. It is reported that the MSA grading system is based on more than 1.3 million taste tests of more than 200,000 consumers in 13 countries around the world, involving a set of standards from the first chain to the consumer's table.
Here, we have to mention the well-established ISC system of Australian beef. Australian cattle must wear a wireless NLIS device (such as ear tag or stomach tag) "for life" from birth to record the complete process of live animals from farm to slaughterhouse, and every activity of the cattle, including feeding, illness, transfer, slaughter, etc., can be tracked throughout the whole process. The data is stored in national databases to support market access for Australian red meat globally.
Then, from the standardized feeding method according to the needs of different tastes to the standardized slaughtering method, and then to the MSA standard based on the global taste test, backed by a mature, perfect and rigorous standardization system of the whole industry chain, the standardization of Australian beef has become an important "endorsement" of quality. Then, when Australian beef comes to the Chinese market, its quality presentation based on standardization is bound to affect the development of China's beef industry in terms of technology and standardization to a certain extent.
03 The next "outlet" of meat, what does beef take?
Based on the market performance of both supply and demand of beef, and the trend of beef quality from a global perspective, the prospects of China's beef market are gradually becoming clear.
First, the demand of the C-end and B-end has been further released, stimulating the growth of upstream animal husbandry and imports.
According to public data, China's beef consumption ranks second in the world with a proportion of 17%, but China's per capita beef consumption needs to be further increased. In 2020, the average beef consumption of Chinese is 62kg, much lower than the 26 in the United States2kg, which is also lower than the international average. This means that there is still huge room for growth in China's beef consumption.
The increase in consumer demand will become the core driving force for the sustainable growth of China's beef market in the future, which will empower the development of upstream industries and trigger further growth in imports.
Second, the subdivision track is beginning to show its edge, and the future is full of opportunities.
Just a few days ago, at the event of "Australian Beef Ambassador - Taste of Queensland China Tour Chengdu Station", the organizer held a roundtable forum with the theme of "Challenges and Opportunities of Australian Beef in the Prefabricated Vegetable Track". The guests generally believed that Australian beef will usher in a wave of development opportunities in the field of prefabricated dishes.
In fact, including pre-made dishes, beef has begun to explode in the subdivision track. Beef products such as Liuxin Zhixin Wagyu beef patty and five-spice sauce beef for retail e-commerce channels, dry-aged steak and Wagyu ham for the development of B-end catering, as well as processed semi-finished products for specific cooking dishes, are all growing at a visible rate. Such a segmentation track may release a large number of opportunities to drive the beef market to accurately target consumer groups with more targeted products.
The third is the formation of regional endorsement, brand influence, and category innovation to form the "Three Musketeers Out of the Circle", or affect the future beef market pattern.
At present, the domestic beef market still lacks the leadership of the head brand that is really "out of the circle", but it is foreseeable that in the accelerated branding process, regional endorsement, brand influence, and category innovation promoted by the first two will form the "three musketeers" of beef brands out of the circle in the future, and affect the pattern of the future beef market from the perspective of branding.
So, how is the regional brand influence refined?The direction of category innovation is inAustralian Beef Ambassador - A Taste of Queensland China" series of activities may bring a new interpretation to this. A delegation of 25 chefs and food experts from 15 countries and regions visited Queensland to learn about the production process of Australian beef from the source, and now, they have formed an Australian beef ambassador to start the "China Tour", coming to Chengdu in November, arriving in Suzhou in December, and on January 10, January 12 and January 30, 2024, they will also meet you in Shenzhen, Xiamen and Dalian to experience the charm of Australian beef and Queensland products with Chinese consumers.
04 Shen said.
The trigger for the growth of Australian beef imports is a microcosm of the development of China's beef market, which reflects the growth of China's beef market and the changing perception of high-quality beef among Chinese consumers. Then, in the context of market growth and changes in consumer cognition, the overall market of Australian beef and even imported beef may usher in a wave of outbreak in China. In the long run, domestic beef and imported beef will compete on the same stage on a large scale in the future, which may also become a major driving force for the growth of the industry.
*: Global Network.