Foot-and-mouth disease outbreak: Modelling economic implications for Queensland and Australia

This paper estimates the extent of the economic impacts that a foot-and- mouth disease (FMD) outbreak could have in Australia. Due to Queensland's reliance upon the beef, and to a lesser extent, sheep industries, the net effects of an FMD outbreak in Queensland would be far greater than that for the rest of Australia. The livestock farming (mainly beef cattle, sheep, dairy and pig) and meat product manufacturing (mainly beef, sheep meat and pork) industries are not the only industries that would be adversely affected by an FMD outbreak. Over half of the losses in jobs and industry output would occur in non-agricultural industries. The national economy was forecast to recover thirteen years after the outbreak. Due to the economic conditions created by an FMD outbreak, several industries primarily associated with mineral exports could actually benefit as a result of the outbreak.