INTRODUCTION

CRED is a co-implementing partner with University of Queensland in the implementation of project “Sustainable and Inclusive Development of the Cattle and Beef Industry in South-East Asia and China“ where CRED is:

• Responsible for collecting data on cattle and beef trade flows within the Mekong, primarily from secondary sources and other projects, and also from primary research on the Vietnam side of the Vietnam-China trade;
• Collaborates with UQ and HELVETAS to provide primary guidance on modelling approaches;
• Contributes to the development of “country statistics” and “industry profiles” for the Mekong countries in order to build knowledge on regional beef markets and trade and as a data and literature review, including availability and gaps.
• Facilitates the workshop on regional beef markets and trade” to offer discussion platform for Australian industries, researchers and policy makers from all countries in the region and Vietnamese industries.

HOW WE WORK

• The project will achieve the aim through an interlinked system of information gathering, analysis and dissemination;
• A bottom-up or ’grounded’ way that increases the chances of producing accurate and useful information is applied to develop the project and proposed modeling; In addition, the Spatial Price Equilibrium model will be undertaken in a collaborative way, especially in conjunction with partner organizations.
• The model to be built is a multi-market model that stimulates the markets for several related commodities. It is also a spatial-equilibrium model that takes into account regional differences in production and consumption patterns, as well as the costs of transporting commodities from one region to another and transforming commodities in each region.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Relevant research institutions and partners have been Identified and engaged in project including China, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Australia;
• Completion of the desktop review of available data and fieldwork on specific trade flows of cattle had led to the successful organization of regional workshop on beef markets and trade;
• Design, coding and Validation of Spatial Price Equilibrium Model have been drafted;
• Training has been organized for project partners in use of Spatial Price Equilibrium Model
• Pilot research utilizing Spatial Price Equilibrium Model
• Development of dedicated information dissemination website (asiabeefnetwork.com ) where i) country information databases are permanently updated; ii) communication among regional partner institutions strengthened; iii) communication with Australian stakeholders is enhanced;
• Linkage development with IFPRI and ASEAN developed; and
• Finalization of a full proposal for 4 year 2018-2021 “Sustainable and Inclusive Development of the Cattle and Beef Industry in South-East Asia and China”.