BUTCHERS are looking at ways to cut costs and add value to their products as high cattle prices force them to charge much more for their beef.
But their efforts may be futile as consumers turn to other meats, according to Hunter and Australian Meat Industry Council national retail council deputy chairman Robert Constable.
Mr Constable said beef prices had increased by 35 to 40 per cent in the past three months.
The high cattle prices have forced Werris Creek butcher Mark Woolfe to shut up shop on Christmas Eve and Mr Constable said he won’t be the only butcher considering a change.
“I can see more shops shutting down in the near future, and people with a few shops will be restructuring their businesses,” he said.
Butchers have no choice to pass on the costs of record-high cattle prices, Mr Constable said.
“A beast that we pay $3 a kilogram for is already $6/kg back at the shop. In the shop we lose 35pc in bones and fat, so the real cost is $8.90/kg before you have rent, electricity, wages and all expenses on top of that.”
The high costs for butchers adds to the current downturn in beef consumption.
Figures from Meat and Livestock Australia show about 80pc of meat consumed in the 1970s was either beef or sheepmeat, but those meats now make up less than 50pc of meat consumed.
“Beef has been losing ground at a rate of 8pc for the last three years, before it got expensive,” Mr Constable said.
What butchers can do is keep buying in quality meat, use every part of the beast, and look for more opportunities to value add, Mr Constable said.
He said producing gourmet or specialty products set butchers apart from supermarkets, but it wasn’t the only answer, as teaching customers how to cook meat was often easier and more cost effective.
