Last year $11.4 billion of red meat was exported with forecasted easing of prices felt at the tail end of the trading year.
That resulted in a 9% drop in the value of exports to $966 million in December, compared with the same month a year ago. Sheepmeat exports were down 19% to $338 million, beef exports fell by 15% to $428 million and organs, hide, blood and other products by 9% to $200 million.
The largest drop was in the Chinese market, where exports were down by 21%, to $357.6 million, while the United Kingdom fell by 53% to $25.8 million.
Meat Industry Association (MIA) chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said markets had softened with high inflation eroding consumers’ purchasing power.
“Some consumers in our key markets are trading down to cheaper proteins and dining out less in restaurants. For beef, we are seeing record imports of beef into China from Brazil. The relaxation of China’s Covid-19 policy has also created some uncertainty in the market.”
Overall exports last year increased by 13% from the previous year. Exports worth $4.3billion were up 5% to China, and increased 7% to the United States to $2.3 billion, 20% to $561 million to Japan and 11% to the United Kingdom to $464 million.
Sheepmeat volumes fell by 5% to 375,716 tonnes for the year but their value increased by 6% to $4.3billion. The average value of sheepmeat exports last year was $11.56 a kilogram compared with $10.37/kg in 2021.
Exported beef volumes were down 5% to 482,875 tonnes, but their value rose 20% to $4.9billion. The average value of beef exports was $10.07/kg, up from $8.02/kg in 2021.
Ms Karapeeva said a significant factor had been the high levels of drought-driven domestic production in the United States last year.
- Staff reporter
