While Australian grassfed beef exports are likely to finish the year well above year ago levels, grainfed volumes are likely to finish 2013 well below previous year levels, hampered by the persistently strong A$ and subdued demand in the major grainfed export destinations.
For the first eleven months of the year, total grainfed exports have reached 173,847 tonnes swt, back 10% on the corresponding period last year and down 12% on the five-year average (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - DAFF).
Exports to Japan, where typically two thirds of Australian grainfed beef is sent, are at 115,365 tonnes swt, back 12% from the same period in 2011, while exports to Korea (27,793 tonnes swt), the second largest market, are back 22% year-on-year.
Grainfed beef exports to the EU (5,573 tonnes swt) on the other hand are up 45% year-on-year, for the January to November period, underpinned by the expansion of the grainfed beef quota (from 20,000 tonnes to 48,200 tonnes), along with a change in the method for the allocation of import permits.
