December 13, 2010

Australia's live cattle exports show substantial increase

Australian live cattle exports surged during October, reaching 92,980 cattle - up 31% on the same period last year.

Although trade with Indonesia continues to underpin the industry (38,670 head in October), a number of other markets have taken large shipments in recent months, with Turkey (28,093 head), Saudi-Arabia (9,700 head) and China (6,720 head) all increasing during October.

For the 10 months to October, numbers were 3% below the previous year, at 731,100 head, with most of the decline stemming from a 24% fall to Indonesia (at 463,459 head), following the enforcement of weight and permit restrictions in that market.