Australian live cattle shipments are in demand
28/05/2019
Indonesia with 181,000 head, Vietnam with 64,000 head and China with 39,000 head account for almost all of these shipments. Exports of live cattle to these three important markets have risen by 23%, 8% and 41% respectively.
There appear to be a number of different reasons for these increases.
On the Australian side, farmers seem to have shipped more live cattle in the early months this year because of disappointing rains. There is speculation that this could, in the words of meat industry promotions body Meat and Livestock Australia, “limit the availability of feeder cattle as the season progresses”.
The market in Indonesia is busy because Ramadan started two weeks earlier in the western calendar than in 2018 and the feast of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, will fall around June 4 this year compared to June 15 in 2018. Importers have sought shipments of live cattle from Australia in good time for the animals to be finished and prepared for slaughter in time for the feast.
In China and Vietnam, the pork market is suffering from outbreaks of African Swine Fever virus. The US Meat Export Federation has quoted Chinese government sources as saying China’s hog population is down by 20% because of the disease. It has said pork consumption in Vietnam has also been significantly impacted by African Swine Fever, especially in the southern region near Ho Chi Minh City. Australian cattle offer a valuable alternative source of meat.
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