July 7, 2008

Australia's beef and veal exports declined 4.5 percent in 2007-08 to 930,000 tonnes due to a fall in beef supplies and a robust Australian dollar.

Beef exports to the US in 2007-08 dropped 21 percent to 240,000 tonnes, the lowest in 10 years. This sharp drop reflected the weak US dollar, slow market demand and higher prices in other markets.

Shipments to Japan dropped 9 percent to 365,000 tonnes while exports to South Korea fell 7 percent to 146,000 tonnes, a result caused by the return of US beef, strong Australian dollar and a fall in grainfed product availability.

In June, beef and veal exports dropped 13 percent on-month to 82,000 tonnes due to low beef supplies, but it was an 8-percent rise from June 2007.

Although Australia's market shares in the US, Japan and South Korea are shrinking, but Australian beef demand were high in secondary markets. Exports to the CIS, especially to Russia, reached a record 45,584 tonnes, up from only 8,000 tonnes in the previous year.

This surge was due to growing demand, falling Russian and EU beef supplies and lack of competition from key exporters Brazil and Argentina.

These factors also led to an 80-percent jump in exports to Australia's Southeast Asian markets in Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines, which in total accounted for 47,517 tonnes. Shipments to China and Hong Kong reached 5,136 tonnes while exports to the EU climbed 28 percent to 9,265 tonnes.