It’s official: Red meat exports break records in 2024

Australia exported the highest amount of beef, lamb, mutton and goat meat in 2024, but what will 2025 bring?

Red meat export records were smashed in 2024.

The final figures for the year have been tallied and beef, lamb, mutton and goat meat all reached new export volumes.

And 2025 is shaping up to be another whopper, with records expected for beef and mutton.

For the full calendar year, Australia exported:

1.34 MILLION tonnes of beef – well above the previous annual record of 1.287 million tonnes set in 2014;

359,229 TONNES of lamb – beating the previous record of 326,014 tonnes set in 2020;

255,098 TONNES of mutton – above the previous record of 209,580 tonnes set in 2023;

51,489 TONNES of goat meat – up from the record of 33,891 tonnes set in 2023.

The United States was Australia’s biggest customer, taking the largest volume of beef, lamb and goat meat, while China was the biggest purchaser of mutton.

The total volume of beef to the US for the 2024 year reached 394,715 tonnes, up 60 per cent on 2023, or 148,000 tonnes.

The second largest buyer, Japan also took more Australian beef, with 247,604 tonnes, up 20 per cent or 41,000 tonnes.

Episode3 director and analyst Matt Dalgleish said helping hit the new records was a promising end to 2024, with a strong finish to Chinese demand.

“Three of the four top trade destinations finished the year with export flows running well above average seasonal levels too, setting up for a solid 2025 for Aussie beef exports,” he said.

Mr Dalgleish said in total the US took 29.4 per cent of the beef export trade from Australia, while Japan took 18.4 per cent of the trade, South Korea 14.9 per cent and China took 14.4 per cent.

As for lamb, Meat and Livestock Australia global market analyst Tim Jackson said supply out of New Zealand has been below average, and Australia was able to take advantage of that and supply more.

“There was really noticeable growth into the US and Middle East regions for Australian lamb,” he said.

Mr Jackson said for 2025 they were forecasting another record volume for beef exports.

“We expect a slight easing in export volumes for lamb but it will still be historically elevated, while mutton export volumes are expected to lift and also set a new record,” he said.