Sheepmeat exports also continued their strong 2022, rising 18 per cent year-on-year to 38,477 tonnes.
MLA’s Tim Jackson said beef exports rose in all major markets, but increases were especially pronounced in South Korea and China.
He said overall, beef exports rose 19 per cent year-on-year, while exports to South Korea rose 43 per cent year-on-year and exports to Greater China rose 37 per cent year-on-year.
This means that of all total exports:
- Korea accounted for 20 per cent;
- Greater China accounted for 20 per cent;
- Japan accounted for 24 per cent;
- US accounted for 17 per cent; and
- other markets made up the balance.
Growth in grassfed exports
Much of this increase in beef exports was due to significant growth in grassfed exports, Mr Jackson said.
“In recent times, grainfed export volumes have been more stable than grassfed exports,” he said.
“Since 2020, grainfed exports have ranged from 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes each month (outside of January), while grassfed exports have ranged from 35,000 to 72,000 tonnes each month.”
This means that months with higher export volumes tend to see large increases in grassfed beef volumes, and August displayed that pattern.
While grainfed exports rose by 13 per cent year-on-year, grassfed exports rose by 23 per cent to 62,752 tonnes.
At the same time, there was a pronounced shift towards frozen beef over the month.
Although higher than July, chilled beef exports fell by nine per cent year-on-year to 20,400 tonnes, while frozen beef rose by 31 per cent to 71,680 tonnes.
Sheepmeat exports
Sheepmeat exports were also strong in August, rising 18 per cent year-on-year to 38,477 tonnes. Lamb exports rose by 13 per cent to 26,196 tonnes, while mutton exports rose by 30 per cent to 12,281 tonnes.
Mr Jackson said lamb exports to Southeast Asia rose a “remarkable” 70 per cent to 3779 tonnes, as Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and Singapore all recorded strong year-on-year increases.
Meanwhile, exports to the US, Greater China and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) fell back slightly, he said.
Notably, lamb exports to South Korea rose 169 per cent year-on-year to 2906 tonnes, despite not being a traditional market for sheepmeat.
Mutton exports were more uniform than its lamb counterpart. Greater China, Southeast Asia and MENA all recorded large year-on-year volume increases, with exports to Greater China increasing by 50 per cent year-on-year to 5923 tonnes and exports to Southeast Asia increasing by 59 per cent to 2219 tonnes.
The US was distinct among major markets, with exports falling 34 per cent year-on-year to 1395 tonnes – although export growth in Canada and Mexico made up some of that difference in North America.
Volumes to increase further
Mr Jackson said as the herd rebuild matured, higher export volumes would become more frequent.
“At the same time, given the disruption the industry has faced over the past several years, it will take several months of heightened export volumes to determine a trend — despite the high export volumes exhibited in recent weeks,” he said.
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