Australia

9% increase in the Australian beef exports

Beef

The drought has raised the number of slaughterings but the carcase weights are down.

Posted on Oct 29 ,07:12

9% increase in the Australian beef exports

Ongoing drought and a poor rainfall outlook made that the forecast for 2018 Australian beef production to be 6% up on 2017 at 2.3 million tonnes carcase weight (cwt), according to Meat & Livestock Australia’s (MLA) Cattle Industry Projections October update.
Elevated levels of adult cattle slaughter throughout winter and early spring has driven the increase, with Australia’s national adult cattle slaughter for 2018 forecast to reach 7.8 million head, 9% higher than 2017.
"Despite poor prospects for pastures entering into 2019, slaughter numbers will begin to be constrained by a shrinking pool of available cattle. The female slaughter rate has risen to levels not seen since the last drought in 2015, though notably, this time off a lower base herd, which will have repercussions for cattle supply and production in coming years.
Typically, the Australian cattle herd contracts when the proportion of female slaughter exceeds 47% of total slaughter – a threshold first surpassed in May and the female contribution to the kill has increased since. The high percentage of females contributing to slaughter continues to put pressure on national average carcase weights. Projected national carcase weights have now been revised downwards, to 290kg/head for 2018.", explained Scott Tolmie, MLA’s Market Intelligence Manager.
Driven by high demand in Asian markets and a soft Aussie dollar exports are expected to increase by 9% in 2018, said the analysis. "Increased beef production, a softer Australian dollar and robust demand fundamentals, particularly in established Asian markets, has underpinned a 9% increase in forecast beef exports in 2018, to 1.1 million tonnes shipped weight (swt). Despite increasing global competition, beef exports for the calendar year-to-September grew 12% year-on-year, to 840,500 tonnes swt. On the back of record grain-fed cattle turnoff, exports to Japan and Korea have recorded increases of 7% and 15%, respectively. Exports to China in the first nine months of 2018 surged 55% year-on-year, while shipments to the United States were slightly down, heavily impacted by increasing domestic production.", added Mr Tolmie.

 

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