Australian exports closing in on Canadian quota

Much of the focus of Australia’s large beef export year so far in 2015 has been on the US – which will comfortably be the largest export market this year – but another major North American market, Canada, has also been a strong buyer of Australian beef this year.

Australia has an annual quota of 35,000 tonnes of beef to Canada, and as of 29 September, 32,052 tonnes of quota had been issued by Canadian authorities, according to the Steiner Consulting Group’s monthly update on Canada. Expectations are for the quota to be filled by early November. By then, however, exporters will be able to start shipping for the 2016 quota year, due to the time lag on shipping.

Given that the Canadian and US beef markets are highly integrated, prices in Canada, including what importers want to offer, have started to decline in recent weeks – in line with the cheaper US cattle and beef markets. Despite this, Australian exporters remain in a relatively good position, compared with US exporters, due to the lower A$.