August 11, 2009

Beef exports from Australia, the world's second largest beef producing country, will fall this year because of gains in the local currency and the global recession, trade group Meat & Livestock Australia said.

Shipments of beef and veal may be 950,000 tonnes in 2009, down one percent from a year earlier, the Sydney-based group said in an e-mailed report, reversing a January forecast for a three-percent gain to a record 990,000 tonnes.

Australia's currency has gained 19 percent this year against its US counterpart, making its beef more expensive for overseas customers. Global beef demand has entered a period of "uncertainty" since the start of the worldwide credit crisis, Meat & Livestock added.

Deep recessions in almost all advanced economies, especially Japan and the US, had impacted beef demand, as confidence plunged and consumers turned towards cheaper beef cuts and protein, Meat & Livestock's Tim McRae and Peter Weeks wrote in the report.

Exports are forecast to rebound in 2010, gaining five percent to one million tonnes, because of a global economic recovery, the group said.