Australia’s beef exports witnessed a significant decrease in November, with a variety of factors contributing to this downturn. The total volume of exports for the month was 93,802 tonnes, marking an 11 percent reduction, or 11,300 tonnes less, compared to October’s trade.
Notably, October had seen the highest monthly level of exports since the end of the drought liquidation cycle in December 2019.
Several challenges impacted beef processing operations in November. These included production time losses due to rain disruptions in some regions and protected industrial action involving meat inspectors and on-plant vets.
Additionally, increased absenteeism due to COVID-19 and flu further hampered operations and reduced throughput at several sites.
Despite the decline, last month’s volume showed a significant improvement of about 24,000 tonnes or 34 percent compared to November last year. This increase is attributed to a recovering US grinding beef market and improved trading conditions in China.
For the 11 months ending November 30, Australia has exported 975,681 tonnes of chilled and frozen beef. This suggests that the total annual volume by the end of this month will reach around 1.02 million tonnes, compared to 855,000 tonnes in 2022 and 887,000 tonnes the year before.
The United States continued as Australia’s largest volume beef market in November, despite a substantial decline of 8,073 tonnes or 27 percent from the previous month. This decrease is due to flat consumer demand for beef in the US and high domestic production.
However, October’s volume was unusually high, reaching the highest monthly number since January 2016. Year-to-date shipments to the US have surpassed 201,000 tonnes, a significant increase from just 117,000 tonnes for the same period last year.
South Korea ranked second among export customers in November, with 18,117 tonnes, up from 17,500 tonnes in October and 13,300 tonnes in November last year. The year-to-date volume to Korea is 173,466 tonnes, a 20 percent improvement from last year.
Japan accounted for 17,857 tonnes in November, an 8 percent increase from October, and 2 percent higher than last year. Shipments for the past 11 months totalled 187,788 tonnes, down 5 percent from last year.
China slipped to fourth place in export volume, with 16,206 tonnes in November, a decrease of about 3,400 tonnes or 17 percent from October, but still 22 percent higher than last year. Year-to-date trade has reached just short of 188,000 tonnes, up 29 percent from last year.
Emerging customers like Indonesia continue to show strong performance, taking 6,634 tonnes of mostly frozen beef last month, a 17 percent increase from October and 70 percent higher than last year. The Middle East region took 3,209 tonnes, up 9 percent from last year, while trade into the European Union saw just 594 tonnes shipped, a 29 percent decrease from October.
The United Kingdom, despite the new Free Trade Agreement, saw minimal trade growth, with only 139 tonnes shipped last month.
Canada emerged as a surprise market, taking 2,447 tonnes of beef in November, a significant increase from just over 500 tonnes at the same time last year. Year to date, Canada has taken almost 20,000 tonnes of Australian beef, ranking it seventh among Australia’s export customers for the year.
This overview of Australia’s beef export performance in November highlights the dynamic nature of the global beef market and the various factors influencing trade volumes.
