July 19, 2007

South-East Asia sees big jump in Australian beef shipments

South-east Asia is seeing a strong increase in demand for Australian beef, with shipments for 2006-2007 having increased 79 percent to 30,847 tonnes.

Much of the increase was in frozen beef, with shipments jumping 91 percent.

Indonesia, the largest consumer of Australian frozen beef, accounted for 69 percent of frozen beef shipments, accounting for 26,645 tonnes.

Chilled beef exports to South-East Asia surged 28 percent during 2006-07, reaching 4,201 tonnes swt, with increased volumes recorded to all countries.

Australian grainfed beef volumes to South-East Asia throughout 2006-07 also increased significantly, rising 84 percent on 2005-06 shipments, to 3,861 tonnes .

Indonesia's grainfed shipments for the year tripled to 1,168 tonnes, although the majority received was frozen beef.

The top three countries for chilled grainfed beef were Singapore (554 tonnes), Malaysia (395 tonnes) and Thailand (313 tonnes).

Manufacturing beef shipments to the region for 2006-07 increased 81 percent on the previous year, totalling 13,551 tonnes swt, with exports to Indonesia accounting for 10,236 tonnes.

The second most popular beef cut exported to the region during the year was neck, with shipments increasing 117 percent, to 3,617 tonnes.