Higher US imports give Australian beef sector a lift
Australia’s beef exports continued their strong recovery in May, reaching the highest volume of the last 14 months with higher shipments to the US, Russia, Korea and Taiwan.
Exports for the month rose 4% year-on-year to 85,762 tonnes, boosted by the largest cattle slaughter since the end of April and a fall in the value of the Australian dollar.
Higher exports to the US made a big impact on total beef exports. The country exported 23 871 tonnes to the US in May, the highest monthly total since May 2009 and 45% higher than average shipments in March and April. However, for the first five months of the year, beef exports to the US fell 35% compared with the prior-year period. Australian beef exports to Russia rose to 4,988 tonnes in May, while Taiwan and the Philippines registered increases of 18% and 29% over the previous year, respectively.
After relative stability in March and April, exports to Japan fell 10% in May to 30,754 tonnes. Shipments to Indonesia also slowed, with May figures down 18% to 2490 tonnes.
Korea remained a robust market, despite the added competition from US beef exports. Exports to Korea totalled 10,831 tonnes in May, up 36% year-on-year. Exports for the first five months were up 18% over the prior-year period.
For the first five months of 2010, Australian beef exports fell 9% year-on-year to 348,883 tonnes.
