October 30, 2006

Changing composition of Australian beef exports

There has been a significant change in the composition of exports by chilled and frozen, grass-fed and grain-fed, beef classifications and primal cuts over the past five years, according to Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) information released this week.

Of the 909,000 tonnes of beef exported in 2005, 61 percent was shipped as frozen, grass-fed beef, with 40 perent of it sent to the US for manufacturing purpose. Almost 18 percent of Australian beef exported was chilled, grain-fed beef, with the high priced/high quality Japanese market playing the dominant buyer (88 percent of the total).

Each major Australian beef cut had its own global markets, with almost all fullsets and brisket exported sent to Japan, most manufacturing beef to the US, short ribs and rib meat to Korea, and a substantial portion of shin/shank to Taiwan.

Since the discovery of mad cow disease in the US in December 2003, Australia's exports to Japan and South Korea of cuts previously supplied by the US, such as brisket, chuck roll and blade, grew substantially.