Letter from the Chair

The Steering Group Chair, Dr Scott Williams.

I recently attended the Nanjing Wool Market conference in China, an annual event that gathers wool industry participants from around the world. A key part of the event is the China-Australia Joint Working Group meeting, which provides representatives from both countries an opportunity to update each other on the state of their industries. Australia delivered a clear message to China: the supply of wool from Australia is at risk, as prolonged poor wool prices have led many producers to shift toward lamb production.

In recent conversations with sheep producers from Victoria’s western district and South Australia, I’ve been reminded of the challenging dry conditions they have been facing. Coupled with WA’s live export ban and rising input costs, the industry is facing significant headwinds.

There is good news, however. Chinese companies have heavily invested in processing facilities in recent years, showing their confidence in the industry’s future. Wool prices also showed some improvement recently, albeit briefly. Lamb prices, too, have greatly improved since the trough of 2023. The sheep industry benefits from two distinct products with differing risk profiles, offering producers valuable options.

These are reminders that discussions around sustainability become irrelevant if producers are not profitable. That’s why ‘ensuring a financially resilient industry’ is one of the four pillars of the Sheep Sustainability Framework. While our customers often define sustainability in terms of animal welfare and environmental stewardship, they may overlook the importance of profitability for producers. As an industry, we must explicitly acknowledge profitability’s critical role as we define and monitor what makes the industry ‘sustainable’.

Operationally, the launch of the 2024 annual report in Adelaide in August, alongside LambEx, went very well. I had the opportunity to sit with international visitors from sheep industries in New Zealand, Canada, and the US. They were impressed by the SSF and expressed interest in developing similar frameworks for their own industries. Looking ahead, we will host our annual Consultative Committee Forum in early December. This forum is an important platform for the SSF to engage with its diverse stakeholders, providing valuable insights and discussions each year. I’m looking forward to another engaging forum.

-Dr Scott Williams, Sheep Sustainability Framework Steering Group Chair