World-beating market access drives record red meat exports
30 January 2025
In 2024, Australia exported 2.24 million tonnes of red meat to 102 markets, representing the largest volume of red meat ever exported.
Meat & Livestock Australia’s (MLA) annual global market snapshots provide insights into where the volume and value were distributed to in 2024 and analyses the drivers of demand in each market.
The snapshot reports are collated by MLA to illustrate the competitive advantages and growth opportunities for Australian red meat across the world.
Covering 14 markets for beef, lamb and mutton, the snapshots provide industry stakeholders access to topline insights on consumer demographics, perceptions, retail and foodservice trends, as well as key export statistics, analysis and updates on trade access and the competitive landscape.
Manager of Global Market Insights for MLA, Miho Kondo noted that the importance of MLA's market snapshots is that they provide the latest data and insights for Australia’s red meat industry.
“It is absolutely vital for our industry to have access to up-to-date market and consumer insights on our key global markets in order to consolidate our competitive advantages and leverage growth opportunities,” said Ms Kondo.
“Understanding our target consumers and market dynamics is a key factor in understanding which products will deliver higher returns in particular sectors and segments.”
Key insights
In 2024, the United States was the largest importer of Australian red meat by volume last year, importing 394,716 tonnes of beef and 85,133 tonnes of lamb.
According to Ms Kondo, Australian beef helped to fill a hole left by a domestic supply shortage of local product.
“American consumers are some of the largest consumers of red meat in the world, but the American cattle herd reached a more than seven-decade low following years of drought – this created opportunities for imported beef suppliers such as Australia,” Ms Kondo said.
Consumer preference has also been diversifying in the market, and the past year consistently saw double digit growth for grassfed beef in retail from increased availability and presence of grassfed beef in store.
“The US was also the largest market for lamb, with more restaurants across different foodservice segments adopting lamb to cater to growing interest in lamb when dining out,” Ms Kondo said.
Australian red meat exports to mainland China rebounded after a slow start in 2024 with Chinese consumers more cautious in their discretionary spending.
“China’s affluent consumer base is forecast to continue to expand, along with growing appreciation for premium red meat products, providing a great opportunity for Australian red meat.”
In addition, China remained the largest market for Australian mutton, taking 95,622 tonnes in 2024.
Japan was the second largest beef export market for Australia in 2024. However, the proportion of lower value products increased, impacted by sticky inflation, a weakened Yen and slow real wage growth continuing to weigh on Japanese consumer spending.
“Despite the challenges, Australia has benefited from softened competition from the US, increasing our market share in the Japanese imported beef market,” Ms Kondo said.
Australian beef exports to Korea were strong in 2024, triggering the beef safeguard volume earlier than usual. The 2025 safeguard trigger volume is set at 170,659 tonnes shipped weight (swt), and the tariff applicable to Australia beef exported to Korea has dropped to 8.0% in 2025.
A significantly larger proportion of Australian red meat was shipped to destinations outside of the top three markets (US, China and Japan) in 2024 (47% versus 41% in 2019), driven by the young, expanding and increasingly affluent consumer base in regions such as the Middle East and South-East Asia.
View all 14 global market snapshots at: Global Market Snapshots
For more in-depth market insights visit the Aussie Meat Trade Hub
