By Dr. Ray Johnson, Managing Director, Agricultural Appointments.
In a report by Meat & Livestock Australia (“State of the Industry Report: The Australian Red Meat and Livestock Industry”), it has emerged that Australia now dominates the world export markets for meat.
Although Australia’s domestic herd size is relatively small at only 2% of the global beef herd, we are now the world’s largest exporter of beef and veal worldwide followed by agricultural powerhouses like India, Brazil, the United States and New Zealand; and the second largest sheepmeat exporter behind New Zealand. We also exported over 1 million head of live Australian cattle and nearly 2 million head of sheep in 2016.
Astonishingly in 2015 Australia exported 74% of all beef and veal it produced 72% of all sheepmeat and 92% of all goatmeat.
To put this into perspective in relation to other industry sectors, red meat and livestock exports accounted for approximately 6.2% of Australia’s key industry exports in 2015-16, valued $15.1b. This was larger than those recorded in agriculture production ($14.6b) and machinery and equipment manufacturing ($13.9b). And it ranked further behind coal, food and oil & gas (see graph below).
Results like these show the incredible future of the Australian agriculture as one of the real long-term and sustainable industries of the future. Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest industry trends.
