Japanese meat trading giant Starzen buys Darling Downs specialist Wagyu feedlot

JAPANESE meat trading giant Starzen has made its first investment in the Australian cattle industry, purchasing the Macquarie Downs specialised Wagyu feedlot near Leyburn on Queensland’s Darling Downs.

Macquarie Downs is a substantial 6900ha property with a commercial feedlot with a capacity for 3900 head across 32 pens, plus a large irrigated and dryland cropping area for hay, silage and grain production.

The Macquarie Downs business has been owned since the yard was established in 1995 by the Suzuki family from Japan, whose primary business is in real estate development. Since both buyer and seller are Japanese in origin, it is considered unlikely that Foreign Investment Review Board approval will be necessary.

The separate, respected Macquarie Downs Wagyu genetics and cattle breeding business is not included in the sale, and will continue to be operated by the Suzuki family. Macquarie Downs-bred cattle currently occupy about three quarters of the feedyard capacity, custom-fed, with the remainder bred by others. Almost all of the internally-bred cattle are Fullbloods, with the remainder F1-Fullblood.

In an advice to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the listed Starzen said it had bought the Macquarie Downs feedlot and farming business via Yorkrange Pty Ltd for A$55.9 million. The expected completion of the transaction is February 28, 2025.

Yorkrange will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Starzen.

The acquisition was part of Starzen’s strategy to strengthen its overseas operations, particularly in the production and supply of Australian Wagyu beef, the company told the TSX.

“By managing cattle fattening operations directly, Starzen aims to improve beef quality and enhance its supply chain for markets in China and Southeast Asia,” it said.

The acquisition will allow Starzen to directly engage in the entire process of production of Australian Wagyu beef and in sales in other overseas markets, mainly in China and Southeast Asia.

Formerly known as Zenchiku, Starzen has traded in Australian beef for decades, establishing the Starzen Australia division four years ago, both for importation of Japanese Wagyu beef to this country, as well as export. The company for many years was one of the largest suppliers of grinding beef for McDonald’s Japan.

In Japan, Starzen owns and operates extensive Wagyu feedlot and processing assets, some of which have been visited on earlier Australian Wagyu Association study tours to Japan. The company also imports and distributes large quantities of beef from Australia, the United States and New Zealand. Starzen employs almost 2800 staff across its operations.

In addition to the modern, well-equipped feedlot, the 6900ha Macquarie Downs holding includes 1300ha of annual fodder cropping, 500ha of irrigated cropping (wheat, barley and hay in winter and sorghum, soybean, mung bean, maize and cotton in summer), 3500 megalitres of irrigation water from seasonal overland flow and 577 megalitres of underground water allocations.

Irrigation is provided through lateral move and hybrid centre pivots, allowing exact applications of water to maximise yields and watering efficiency.

Starzen has been indirectly connected with the Macquarie Downs feedlot for some time, via a third party which was custom-feeding Wagyu at the site, and on-selling to Starzen.

Starzen rose to prominence earlier this year when its entry in the 2024 AWA Branded Beef Competition won the Purebred Wagyu class

Since 2020 Starzen Australia has developed and launched two Australian Wagyu beef brands: Eight Blossom Beef, which won this year’s competition, and Imperial Blossom Beef, a single-origin Wagyu program.

“We are still at the very early stage of what we hope to pursue, creating Australian Wagyu brands as Japanese in Australia,” Starzen director Hirotsugu Shimbayashi said at the time.