ANGUS breeders should consider applying for EU accreditation to supply the European beef market.
Michael Pointer, consultant to the Certified Angus Australian Beef program, said the recent decision by European authorities to grant an additional import quota of 20,000 tonnes for hormone-free beef was a market Australian Angus breeders should not ignore.
Mr Pointer said he could see big opportunities for CAAB suppliers with Meat Standards Australia-graded product.
Until the latest announcement, Australia had an EU beef quota of 7150 tonnes, which was being supplied largely by EU-accredited Hereford breeders.
Mr Pointer said Angus breeders had never really been committed to EU accreditation simply because they had a stranglehold on the more-lucrative Japanese B3 premium market.
One of the hurdles to supplying the EU market was that the accreditation program not only required cattle to be free of hormone treatments but it also required strict record keeping of animal movements at all stages - farm, saleyard, feedlot and abattoir.
The volatility of a premium to supply this market had also discouraged many producers.
EU supplier Paul Mason, who grass feeds up to 1200 Herefords for the market at Wellington in NSW, suggested the premium over time had varied from zero to 40c/kg dressed.
But he said the EU was a valuable market that, despite its quotas, could only grow.
"Like the CAAB markets, we can never promise a premium, but is it an additional market for high-value product which will create demand for Angus cattle and Angus genetics," Mr Mason said.
Speaking at the Mobbs' family High Spa Angus field day this week, Mr Pointer said last year was a difficult one for the CAAB program, although the company still managed to trade profitability.
In a breakdown of the MSA-graded CAAB's markets, Japan remained the largest outlet with 39 per cent, followed by the US at 23 per cent, and Australia's domestic market at 19 per cent.
Mr Pointer said the adoption of Angus beef by the fast-food chains McDonald's and Hungry Jack's had provided an estimated promotional value of $7 million to the breed.
Under the McDonald's program, the CAAB audited or verified the integrity of the beef supply and stipulated that an Angus sire and Angus or Angus-British breed dam be used.
By contrast, Hungry Jack's was using a CAAB product which was required to be sired by an Angus bull and out of an Angus or black baldy dam.
