News Wagyu F1 feeder prices settle around 520-530c/kg, despite climate of uncertainty

WAGYU feeder cattle prices have weathered the storm of uncertainty surrounding China’s imported beef quotas and the Middle East crisis better than many expected. Beef Central has provided occasional updates on Wagyu feeders prices for the past 15 years, surveying large F1 to Fullblood Wagyu beef lotfeeders and supply chains across the key production centres in Queensland and New South Wales. For the numbers set out below, we received pricing data from seven large Wagyu supply chains. The January announcement that China will this year impose a quota limit on Australian beef imports of 205,000 tonnes – after which a hefty 55pc tariff will apply – was always likely to have a destabilising effect on the Wagyu sector. Although no official data is available to support it, China is one of Australia’s primary Wagyu export beef markets, and any market curtailment was likely to damage prospects for the remainder of the year. Some Wagyu supply chains spoken to for this report said there was ...