Australian live cattle exports are half the value they were 22 months ago and live sheep exports are about a quarter of the value they were 17 months ago.
And it all because of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) and Indonesia's decision to cut its import quota according to Meat and Livestock Australia's (MLA) chief economist Tim McRae.
Based on MLA's latest figures in May 2011 - just prior to ABC's Four Corners program 'A Bloody Business' - exports for the month were about 110,000 head of cattle with a trade value of more than $100 million.
But in the latest figures for February this year, live cattle exports were about 40,000 head with a value of under $60m.
Since the decision to halt the trade, the live cattle and the live sheep export industry have gone through dramatic changes with the introduction of ESCAS and the cutting of the live cattle import quota in the last two years.
Another interesting figure was that between July 2011 to Feb 2012 - 253,028 cattle were exported live to Indonesia, but during the same period in 2012-2013, Australia had exported just 35,234 head of cattle.
This equates to an 86 per cent drop.
During that same period, live cattle exports overall were down 14pc, from 445,436 to 382,214 head of cattle.
In February last year, 32,407 head of cattle left for Indonesia, but February this year saw just 10,843 cattle leave.
And with the 2013 import quota now at just 238,000 for live cattle, WA and the Northern Territory producers will be fighting for the limited quota space.
As Farm Weekly went to print, ABC radio reported that the lack of import permits and good supply of cattle in the northern end of Australia was pushing price down.
Steers were reportedly getting about $1.60 a kilogram, down from $1.90 a kilogram this time last year.
Pastoralists in the north of WA are competing among themselves and pushing the live cattle export price down to try and get rid of their cattle to Indonesia.
