Australia's red meat exports hit four-year high

As slaughter continues to grow, export volumes rise along with it. Beef exports rose 7% from September and 44% year-on-year (YoY) to 105,131 tonnes, the highest total beef exports since 2019.

Exports to North America were the clear leader in volume, rising 118% YoY in October to 31,577 tonnes. This made North America the largest market for Australian beef this year, a significant change from 2022 when the US was Australia's fourth largest export market, hitting a 20-year low of 133,946 tonnes for the year.

China became the second largest export market in October , with exports up 37% year-on-year to 19,675 tonnes. This means Australia exported 171,587 tonnes of beef to mainland China in 2023 , putting Australia above the 196,349 tonnes quota-free limit set out in the Australia-China Free Trade Agreement by the end of the year. which will result in additional tariffs being imposed on subsequent Australian exports.

Earlier this year, exports to Japan trended below last year's levels as export volumes were impacted by strong competition from U.S. exporters, large inventories of frozen beef in cold storage and relatively flat consumer spending. In a sign that these trends are now starting to reverse, exports to Japan increased 5% year-on-year to 16,563 tonnes in October.