Meat and Livestock Australia

8 Review of 2012 report ndings This section will aim to address the recommendations compiled in 2012, in order to identify areas of development and situations that may have changed. Recommendations from 2012 followed five key areas within which specific points were listed. These are as follows. Market development Total tonnes of goatmeat shipped in 2017 were 28,426 t shipped weight (swt), a reduction from the five year high of 35,780 swt in 2014 (MLA snapshot, 2018)(MLA, 2016). This is below the five year average but above the 10 year average (Uchida, 2018). Some substantial changes did occur with the quantities of product purchased by countries within the top 10 export destinations. Most notable were Fiji, Vietnam and Korea, which from 2012 to 2016 increased Australian goatmeat imports by 94 per cent, 67 per cent and 53 per cent by weight respectively. As a whole, the top 10 export destinations also increased their proportion of total exports from 94 per cent in 2012 to 99 per cent in 2016 (MLA , 2016). Opportunity for export growth is particularly evident in Korea and China where free trade agreements were signed with Australia in 2014 and 2015 respectively. From initial tariff rates of 20 per cent (China) and 22.5 per cent (Korea), goatmeat exports to each country will reduce at a constant rate until they reach zero in January 2023 (Uchida, 2018). Domestic goatmeat consumption has also seen little change on a total weight basis, with 2,988 t carcass weight (cwt) entering the domestic market in 2017. This equates to 10 per cent of total production (MLA snapshot, 2018). Domestic goat consumption is centered largely around the ethnic population, with only eight per cent of Australians regularly eating goat (MLA snapshot, 2017). The greatest hurdle to domestic goatmeat consumption is a lack of familiarity. However consumer perception studies conducted in 2016 indicate that Australians see goatmeat as one of the leanest meats available, and score it very favourably (second only to kangaroo) for animal welfare and environmental impacts (MLA snapshot, 2017). This indicates that there is opportunity for increased consumption of goatmeat within health conscious and morally driven consumers. There is however still no substantial market for organic produce. Over the past five years, the involvement of rangeland producers in the domestic market has reduced from already low levels. This is a result of the competitive prices offered in the commodity based export market.