An empty meat stand at a supermarket in Sydney, Australia. yunhap newsIn Australia, a major exporter of agricultural and livestock products, severe supply and logistics disruptions are taking place in the aftermath of the spread of Omicron mutation.
Australia is a major exporter of beef along with the United States, and Korea is the fourth largest importer of Australian beef along with Japan and China.
Recently, in Australia, due to the rapid spread of the Omicron mutation, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and self-isolation has increased, resulting in a serious labor shortage, causing the grocery stores of large supermarket chains to become empty.
Ahead of the general election in May, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who became impatient with public opinion on the failure of quarantine, stepped up to solve the manpower shortage by exempting visa fees for working holiday program participants (hereafter working holidaymakers) and international students.
Large supermarket meat and fruit stand ‘Tung Tong’… “Affecting Asian exports”
Australian beef on display at a supermarket in Taiwan. yunhap newsAccording to the Australian public broadcaster ABC on the 20th, as of the 18th, the number of new confirmed cases in Australia reached 84,615 and the death toll was 67. The average daily number of confirmed cases per week exceeded 100,000.
As the number of close contacts of corona confirmed patients increased significantly, they did not go to work according to government policy and were forced to self-isolate for up to 10 days.
In particular, as the shortage of workers in Australia’s main industry, the agriculture and livestock industry, and truck drivers, who do most of the logistics, worsened, major agricultural and livestock products such as meat, fruits and vegetables were not properly supplied to front-line supermarkets.
The empty grocery shelves of Woolworths and Coles, Australia’s two largest supermarket chains, have been featured in the Australian media every day.
“I couldn’t find the beef cut I wanted in Woolworths, so I went to Coles, one stop away, but it was the same,” said Minji Lee, 39, a Korean resident in Sydney.
Australia’s supply/logistics crisis caused by a manpower shortage due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 is also affecting exports.
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that the chaos stemming from supply chain disruptions in Australia is beginning to affect exports to Asia, including China and Hong Kong.
According to the SCMP, Australia is a major exporter of livestock products, including beef and dairy products, and Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea import about 70% of Australian livestock products.
Food Square Hong Kong, a premium meat importer in Hong Kong, recently faced a two-week delay in the import schedule of beef imported from Australia, SCMP reported.
Foodsquare Hong Kong chief executive Angelo McDonnell told SCMP that “if supply chain disruptions in Australia are not restored, delays in import schedules could worsen.”
According to the SCMP, there are no major problems in Singapore, which imports meat, dairy products and vegetables from Australia, but problems such as delays in customs clearance of imported goods at the border in mainland China are occurring.
Global shipping company Musk said, “The waiting time at Sydney and Melbourne ports is getting longer by two to three days due to the shortage of manpower due to the spread of Omicron,” said Diane Tipping, chairman of the Australian Export Council. The proliferation is putting a lot of pressure on Australia’s container logistics system,” he said.
Korea, which imports more than 1.3 trillion won worth of Australian beef annually, is not immune from the supply and logistics disruption from Australia.
Recently, domestic beef prices have risen sharply due to the rise in beef prices and the imbalance between supply and demand.
According to the Agricultural Products Distribution Information (KAMIS) of the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (KAMIS), the average retail price of 100g of Australian ribs as of the 20th was 3,513 won, a 47.5% increase from the average of 2,381 won.
An official from a meat importer said, “Recently, delays in imports of Australian beef have occurred in some regions.
Australian prime minister in dire straits, ‘Come to Australia to work’ to workaholics and backpackers
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking. yunhap newsPrime Minister Scott Morrison, who became impatient as public opinion worsened due to a severe supply and logistics turmoil that occurred just months before the federal general election in May, struck “SOS” to workaholics and international students who had been virtually barred from entering the country for the past two years.
Prime Minister Morrison held a press conference in Canberra on the 19th and announced the temporary waiver of visa fees for workaholics, backpackers and international students.
This is to solve the labor shortage by overcoming the phenomenon of foreign short-term residents avoiding travel to Australia due to high visa fees.
The Australian student visa application fee is 630 AUD (about 540,000 won) and the warhol visa fee is 495 dollars (about 420,000 won). Australia’s high visa fees have been the subject of complaints from workaholics and international students.
Prime Minister Morrison said, “I conveyed the meaning of ‘Come here’ to them (workholers and international students).
Australia has implemented a border closure policy that strictly controls entry for foreigners for nearly two years since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is experiencing severe manpower shortages in fields such as farms, catering, and tourism.
This year, Prime Minister Morrison stepped out of attracting foreign labor as public opinion deteriorated as the supply and logistics crisis broke out across Australia as the shortage of manpower became more serious due to the rapid spread of the Omicron mutation.
Australia was selected as a model country for quarantine until the middle of last year, but recently, criticism of the failure of quarantine has grown due to the rapid spread of Omicron mutation and confusion of test guidelines, and the sense of crisis of the Morrison administration’s defeat in the general election is growing.
According to the Australian media, a poll conducted by polling company Roy Morgan of 2,791 Australian voters from the 4th to the 16th showed that the opposition Labor Party won 37% of the votes, ahead of the Liberal/People’s Coalition with 34.5%. The third party, the Greens, had 12%.
In a bipartisan approval rating survey of only the Labor Party and the Liberal and National Coalition Party, the Labor Party was more than 10 percentage points higher, from 56% to 44%.
Also, only 34% of those surveyed said that “Australia is going in the right direction” and 51% said “it is going in the wrong direction”.
“If the federal election were held now, Labour would win by a similar margin as the Labour party, led by Malcolm Fraser, won in 1975,” said Roy Morgan.
The Australian media predicted that if the supply crisis continues until ‘Australia Day’ (January 26), Australia’s biggest national holiday with high meat consumption, public opinion towards Prime Minister Morrison and the ruling party will worsen.
