December 11, 2008
Australian's beef shipments up 12 percent on-year in October
Australian live cattle shipments in October increased 12 percent on the same month last year, as robust demand from Indonesia continued to attract a record volume of Australian cattle.
Exports for the month totalled 74,451 head, taking shipments to all destinations for the first ten months of 2008 to 699,000 head, up 12 percent year-on-year, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics
During October, just over 71 percent of Australian live cattle exports were destined for Indonesia with 53,297 head shipped, up 23 percent year-on-year. Exports of 534,409 head to Indonesia for the first ten months of 2008 surpassed the calendar year volume of 516,992 head for 2007 – valued at just below A$333 million.
In October, Israel received its first shipment of Australian cattle since May, with 9,608 head for the month, seeing it surpass Libya as Australia second largest market so far in 2008, at 35,122 head. Libya received no cattle for the second consecutive month, leaving Australian shipments so far in 2008 at 28,385 head.
The only other regular markets to record substantial shipments during October were Russia (3,469 head), Japan (1,500 head) and China (1,988 head), while Pakistan received its second shipment of Australian cattle for 2008, with 2,499 head. Smaller shipments for the month were sent to Kuwait, Malaysia, Bahrain and Qatar.
