Australia’s red meat exports soared in 2023 as a plunge in livestock prices made its products more competitive at a time when beef production in rival exporter the United States is falling.
Shipments accelerated throughout the year, pushing ovine meat exports to a record level and beef exports to the highest level since 2019, according to Trade Data Monitor data.
Australia is one of the world’s largest shippers of red meat. Its exports are likely to be even larger in 2024, thanks to low U.S. beef production and strong Chinese demand, said Matt Dalgleish of agricultural consultancy Episode 3 to Reuters.
Australian cattle and sheep prices plummeted to multi-year lows last year. The movement occurred as dry weather triggered a sell-off by farmers concerned about not having enough pasture to feed the animals, many of which were sent to slaughter.
In the United States, however, drought reduced the cattle herd to its lowest level since 1951, and beef prices rose sharply.
Australia exported 607,878 tonnes of sheep and goat meat last year, up from 478,350 tonnes in 2022. Shipments of fresh and frozen beef, in turn, totaled 1.18 million tonnes – up from 926,576 tonnes the previous year.
Sheep meat exports totaled USD 3.1 billion, down from the record USD 3.4 billion in 2022 due to lower prices.
Beef exports totaled USD 7.6 billion, the highest value ever recorded.
For sheep meat, the biggest driver of the export increase was China, which imported 204,446 tonnes from Australia last year – a record.
Beef shipments increased to China, South Korea, and the United States, three of the four main export markets for Australian meat.