September 13, 2006

Slight fall in beef exports to Taiwan

Australian beef exports to Taiwan for the year-to-date fell 3 percent, to 18,163 tonnes, largely due to the rise in prices of Australian beef over the past few months, Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) said.

Increased competition for Australian beef from markets such as South Korea also contributed to the decline, MLA said.

However, exports of chilled beef in the first eight months of the year were down 35 percent compared with the same period in 2005, to 1,041 tonnes.

Australian shin shank exports to Taiwan during January to August 2006 were strong, up 12 percent over the same period in 2005.

Shin shank accounted for close to 60 percent of Australian shipments to Taiwan.