The international demand for Australian live cattle and sheep in major export markets is set to increase despite ongoing animal
The international demand for Australian live cattle and sheep in major export markets is set to increase despite ongoing animal welfare concerns domestically, according to a new ABARE report.
The newly released “Live Animal Exports: A Profile of the Australian Industry” from ABARE forecasts overseas demand for live cattle and sheep exports is set to increase.
ABARE Executive Director Phillip Glyde says continued population and income growth in South East Asia and the Middle East should underpin the increased export demand in cattle and sheep – worth approximately $430 million and $290 million in 2006-07 respectively.
“Australia has secured its current share of these live export markets because it is free of diseases such as foot and mouth and has a reputation for delivering animals of reliable quality,” Glyde says.
However he cautions that potential competition from lower cost suppliers in South America and increased community concern for the welfare of exported animals represented a challenge to the future of the industry.
“Producers in some regions of western and northern Australia are reliant on live exports to maintain their farm incomes and we see only limited prospects for substituting trade in meat for live exports. The lack of refrigeration across a large proportion of south east Asia and religious and cultural preferences for live animals means that importing countries are expected to source livestock from competing suppliers rather than buy meat from Australia if restrictions were placed on live animal exports.”