Live Export Industry Braces for Cost of Fewer Cattle on Ships
AUSTRALIA - As of 1 June, the number of cattle allowed onboard live export ships will be reduced, in a decision industry says makes no sense and will hurt the hip-pocket of exporters and producers.
3 May 2019
1 minute read
Lowering the stocking density on ships was one of the key recommendations accepted by the Government following a review into the Australia Standards for the Export of Livestock (ASEL) by sea.
The exact change to how many cattle will be allowed onto a ship will vary, depending on a range of factors, including the length of the voyage and the weight of the cattle.
The chief executive of the Australian Livestock Exporters' Council (ALEC), Mark Harvey-Sutton, said the industry was still getting its head around what the changes will cost.
"Essentially you're looking at about a 17 per cent increase in space allocation for cattle onboard a vessel, but the review said for exporters who demonstrated a good performance, that increase may only be 5 per cent," he said.
"But we don't know what'll be determined as a good performance and how that will be measured, so that's something we need to work through."
Lowering the stocking densities are just one of 49 recommendations from the ASEL report that government said it would accept "either in full or in principle".
Not all of them will be enforced as of 1 June and none will have a more significant impact on the industry's bottom-line than changes to the stocking densities.
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Source: ABC Online
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