WAGYU beef is no longer reserved for the rich man's fine dining experience, which means that while more and more suppliers are popping up, both here and overseas, the growth will likely be sustainable.
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It may well irk the purists in Australia's Wagyu breeding space but the advent of what could now be termed a mass market customer base is growing the pie significantly and presents solid opportunities for Australian producers.
That's the thinking at one of the most well-established Wagyu businesses in the country, Stanbroke Beef.
The key for Australia amid an increasingly competitive environment was to remain at the pinnacle in terms of quality - to leverage the clean, green reputation, superior shelf life, 'auxiliary' value and logistical advantages, Stanbroke's sales manager Mark Harris said.
Speaking at the Australian Wagyu Association's annual conference, WagyuEdge, in Melbourne this week, Mr Harris said high-end marbling would always be the currency of Wagyu and Australian producers needed to maintain their focus on that.
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He outlined the reasons behind Wagyu's move to being far more accessible to a broad range of consumers.
Consumer awareness had gone through the roof. Ten to 20 years ago, many consumers didn't know what Wagyu was, much less tried it, but that has changed, helped by cooking shows and social media, Mr Harris said.
Cuisine familiarity was also growing. The likes of Japanese and Korean barbecue and Chinese hotpot are now available on menus the country over. And more recently, the Texan barbecue low and slow movement has gained legs.
"At Meatstock in Toowoomba recently, we had a huge range of products but it was Wagyu brisket marble score 8 and 9 that sold out on the first day," Mr Harris said.
Finally, disposable incomes are increasing.
"COVID aside, people are getting more wealthy and there is a clear correlation between that and the tendency to eat beef, particularly high-end beef," he said.
"That has combined with lockdowns to increased spending on home cooking. Instead of getting snags, people are trying Wagyu."
Long-standing domestic Wagyu brands were getting stronger and in the past five years several beef processors had moved into the Wagyu space, Mr Harris said.
"Many producer brands have also come to market. People who've traditionally sold feeder steers to operations like ours have decided to go it on their own," he said.
"At the same time, we are seeing more and more Japanese Wagyu being exported to high-end markets.
"The US has well-known brands now and Wagyu is coming out of South America, Europe and even Russia."
However, it was not a case of market saturation because the number of countries now looking to purchase Wagyu in volume was fast-growing.
"We only see the Wagyu space growing; but it will be crucial Australia remains at the high end," Mr Harris said.
Vertical integration
The family-owned Queensland business Stanbroke runs seven large stations in the Gulf region, a feedlot at Chinchilla and manages more than 40 backgrounding properties.
It also has an abattoir at Grantham which processes up to 700 head a day.
Three years ago, Stanbroke Foods was set up to wholesale beef to restaurants and butcher shops and the company has two of its own butchers shops.
Owning and managing businesses at all facets of the supply chain enabled Stranbroke to provide consistent product and to be nimble, Mr Harris said.
Stanbroke's brands are household names.
The long-standing Diamantina and the food service brands Sanchoku for Wagyu and Signature Black for Angus are award-winning.
Stanbroke today owns around 200,000 head, ships to more than 35 countries and employs 600 people.
Supply to its Wagyu program was solely external in the beginning but today it is a mix. Cattle are sourced from all Eastern States, including Tasmania.
Production
In 2007, the purchase of a thousand pregnancy-tested Angus cows out of Western Australia kicked off Stanbroke's Wagyu breeding in northern Queensland.
Today's program consists of traditional Wagyu Angus crosses and internally-bred F1 and F2 progeny. There is also a fullblood Wagyu program and plans are to launch a new brand in this category in January next year.
"Our internal breeding program has been a steep learning curve but we've always maintained a strict focus on quality sire genetics and genetic evolution to drive ongoing performance," Mr Harris said.
"Long-term DNA testing and genetic evaluation means cattle that don't perform to our standard simply don't enter the program."
By virtue of the backgrounding properties, Stanbroke is able to bring cattle down from the north and have them right on specification for feedlot entry.
Evolution of markets
Stanbroke's marketing story is symbolic of many branded Wagyu outfits in Australia.
In 2006, it was geared towards Japan and Korea to compliment their domestic herds.
"As healthy as that business was, those customers didn't value the loin cuts as we needed them to," Mr Harris said.
"So we moved into higher-end, smaller, wealthy markets like Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong with chilled loin cuts air freighted to the fine dining white tablecloth customer.
"That quickly expanded across South East Asia and the Middle East and we also saw expansion to the rung below the fine diner, to the likes of hotel buffets and gourmet retailers."
Then China come along in 2011.
"Due to the sheer size of that market, we were able to access all of these segments in the one place," Mr Harris said.
"More recently, we've increased business significantly here in Australia and in the US.
"These markets are becoming more of a mass market customer base. Wagyu is now in Woolies and even McDonalds serve a Wagyu burger."
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