Australia is the world’s seventh largest beef producer and the third largest exporter of red meat. The state of the industry is healthy, with growth in production anticipated across all species in the coming years.

The meat processing sector has a relatively high proportion of large firms with 200 or more employees. The meat retailing sector is characterised by the rising dominance of the two principal supermarket chains (Coles and Woolworths), and more recently also of Aldi, and a declining market share of independent meat retailers.