Australia: fall in cattle slaughter and beef exports
Reduced export demand forced cattle slaughter rates to a three-year low in February. Reduced export interest, combined with a strong Australian dollar, saw slaughter rates fall to their lowest level since December 2007. While the national cattle herd remains small—with the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week reporting a 2% increase in cattle numbers compared to last year to 25.3 million—a solid start to autumn is likely to prompt many producers to retain their breeding stock.
Meanwhile, the country’s beef and veal shipments fell 8% year-on-year to 81,521 tonnes in March. Widespread rainfall and flooding, particularly across northern Australia, has contributed to much lower supplies of beef and veal nationally. Exports to the US fell 48% year-on-year to 16,421 tonnes, while exports to Indonesia dropped 17% to 3,364 tonnes and exports to Taiwan fell 22% to 2,295 tonnes. However, exports to Korea rose 10% to 11,173 tonnes and exports to Japan grew 28% to 39,283 tonnes.
