Record export highs continue

Australian beef exports in October reached 130,049 tonnes, breaking the record for the most beef exported in a single month for the second time this year. Goatmeat exports also reached record-breaking numbers, with lamb and mutton recording very high export numbers. Australian red meat exports are set to break records across all categories in 2024.  

Beef exports 

Exports of beef rose 24% from last year to 130,049 tonnes. This is the largest export volume in a single month on record, beating the previous record set in July.  

The United States (US) was the largest market for Australian beef for the month, with exports rising 64% year-on-year to 45,338 tonnes. This is the second-highest volume of beef exported to the US in a single month. While frozen exports made up the majority of beef exported, chilled exports saw an 88% rise year-on-year to 11,572 tonnes, the highest chilled volume to the US on record.  

After the US, South Korea was the second largest market for Australian beef and exports rose 13% year-on-year to 19,733 tonnes. The largest increase in exports came from Indonesia; 11,026 tonnes were exported to Indonesia, 95% more than October last year 

So far this year, 1.1 million tonnes of beef has been exported, the highest year-to-October figure on record. As forecast in the latest Cattle Projections, Australian beef is well positioned to end the year with 2024 volumes breaking the previous record (set in 2014).  

Lamb exports 

Exports of lamb fell 13% year-on-year to 26,673 tonnes in October. This was largely due to a 38% year-on-year decline in exports to China. Despite the decline in exports to China, it remained the second-largest market for lamb over the month.  

The largest market for the month was the US, where exports lifted 18% year-on-year to 6,681 tonnes. This is following the trend observed throughout the year; exports to the US year-to-date have lifted 32% to 71,943 tonnes.  

In the year-to-October, lamb exports have lifted 14% from 2023 levels to 303,854 tonnes. This indicates that 2024 is likely to be a record year for lamb exports.   

Mutton exports 

Exports of mutton rose 35% year-on-year to 27,217 tonnes in October, the largest monthly figure since 1994. China remained the largest market, accounting for over half of exports with a total of 14,613 tonnes (43% above October 2023). The largest rise in exports came from Malaysia, where exports lifted 87% year-on-year to 3,164 tonnes, while exports to the US rose 53% year-on-year to 2,040 tonnes.  

Goatmeat exports 

Exports of goatmeat rose 48% year-on-year to 5,772 tonnes, the single largest monthly export volume recorded. The largest market for goatmeat was the US, with exports rising 43% year-on-year to 2,827 tonnes, making up over half of the month’s total goatmeat exports. The majority of the remainder of goatmeat went to South Korea and China. 

For the year, exports of goatmeat are already higher than the previous calendar year record at 42,004 tonnes year-to-October compared to 35,780 tonnes for the previous record year of 2014.   

Attribute content to: Tim Jackson, MLA Global Supply Analyst