Latest exports figures shows dominance of US in red meat sales

As the red meat industry carefully watches any tariff news from the United States, Australia continues to sell big volumes to one customer.

Red meat demand from the United States has help push January’s beef exports to the highest level ever.

Last month, the US was Australia’s biggest customer for beef, lamb and goat meat exports as it asserts itself as the nation’s most important red meat destination.

The figures come as the livestock industry carefully watches the tariff uncertainty in the US after the election of Donald Trump.

Meat and Livestock Australia global supply analyst Tim Jackson said there had been a 7 per cent year-on-year lift in beef exports overall, and the US took 24,685 tonnes in January, or 30 per cent of the total.

And Mr Jackson said it was grass, and not grain-fed beef, where the big gains were seen.

“Grain-fed exports fell 4 per cent from last year (January) to 22,786 tonnes, while grass-fed exports lifted 13 per cent to 58,283 tonnes,” Mr Jackson said.

RaboResearch animal protein senior analyst Lance Zimmerman is based in the US and said consumer demand for beef was expected to continue to grow.

“Since 1998, beef demand has grown at an average of 1.5 per cent per year, driven by improving food safety, convenience and quality,” Mr Zimmerman said.

And while cost of living pressures were being felt in the US, beef had been resilient.

“Despite initial concerns that economic challenges would dampen beef demand in 2024, the reality has been quite different,” he said.

“Analysts expected rising inflation to reduce consumer spending ... (but) consumer demand increased nearly 5 per cent year-on-year.

“This marks the best demand since 1986, highlighting beef’s resilience and ongoing consumer appeal.”

Meanwhile, there was a slight fall in lamb exports year-on-year, but the January figure of 24,177 tonnes was still the second biggest on record for the month.

Again, the US took the lion’s share of lamb exports and 6 per cent more than last year at 6020 tonnes. China was the next biggest with 3414 tonnes, then the United Arab Emirates, with 2516 tonnes.

Mr Jackson said frozen lamb exports were down 6 per cent from year ago levels but chilled lamb was also back by 1 per cent.

“Resilient chilled figures can be partially explained by strong volumes exported to the Middle East and North Africa markets, which is primary a market for chilled lamb, and chilled carcases in particular,” he said.

Mutton and goat meat hit new highs in January, with China taking 16 per cent more to be the major customer for mutton, while the US was Australia’s biggest export destination for goat.