Record June for Australian meat exports

Meanwhile, grain-fed beef exports surpassed the previous record set in April, confirming that Australia is filling the void left open by the US tariff war in China.

Last month's record volume was 4% higher than May's already high 129,000 tonnes and 27% higher than June last year, according to Beef Central.

In the first half of the year, shipment volume reached 702,217 tons, which is a record figure and 100,000 tons higher than the result for the first half of 2024 .

 This result "reflects the sharp swings in global trade this year, driven by a sharp decline in U.S. beef production, problems with U.S. market access in China, the impact of tariffs, and continued strong international demand for beef."

During the fiscal year July 2024 to June 2025, total beef shipments across all destinations totalled 1.44 million tonnes, some 90,000 tonnes higher than the previous record set during the critical drought year of 2014-15, when volumes reached 1.35 million tonnes.

Beef Central notes that a key feature of the current record export trend is that it is not dependent on any one customer: significant growth is being seen in the four largest customers (the US, Japan , Korea and China ), as well as smaller customers such as Indonesia and Canada .