February 17, 2006

Saudi Arabia boosts Australian live sheep exports in 2005

The significant rise in Australian live sheep exports in 2005 was largely due to Australia's resumption of live export trade with Saudi Arabia during the year, revealed Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) on Feb 13.

During 2005, Australia exported 4.2 million head of sheep, a rise of 23 percent over the previous year. Saudi Arabia was Australia's largest market for the year, importing 1.07 million head even though live sheep exports to Saudi Arabia only began in July that year.

MLA said exports to Kuwait in 2005 were 891,000 head, a 29 percent decline compared to the previous year. This was because there was increasing competition from other suppliers. Shipments to Jordan in 2005 fell by 5 percent to 885,000 head. Similarly, exports to Malaysia decreased by 7 percent to 19,705 head.

However, MLA revealed that exports to Oman jumped 24 percent to 359,000 head for the year. Likewise, shipments to Qatar increased by 31 percent to 180,000 head while exports to the United Arab Emirates rose 18 percent to 231,000 head. Bahrain's imports of Australian live sheep increased by 6 percent to 521,000 head.