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| Australia’s live animal export industry has developed to meet the demands of its target markets. For cattle, the emergence of south east Asian economies throughout the 1980s resulted in a reshaping of the Australian sector from one exporting principally breeding cattle for herd rebuilding, to one exporting feeder and slaughter cattle to developing regional feedlot industries. For sheep, export demand has emanated principally from the Middle East. Increasing incomes in importing countries have been one of the principal factors affecting the growth in demand for live sheep from Australia. Indeed, since 1990, exports of Australian sheep to the Middle East have increased by 25 per cent. | ||
| Northern Australia’s cattle industry | ||
| Restructuring of Australia’s cattle sector, particularly in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, served to meet new offshore demand for livestock. The demand stemmed largely from south east Asian industry reforms to develop self sustaining feedlot sectors. In addition, demand was shaped by cultural and religious traditions and socioeconomic factors such as low incomes and lack of storage and refrigeration. The trade that developed for feeder cattle between Australia and south east Asia in the 1980s was based on Australia’s comparatively low cost of producing animals adapted to tropical climates, the disease free status of Australia’s industry and the geographic proximity to these markets. However, it was not always this way. In the past, the limited regional beef market and the significant distance from major Australian domestic beef markets limited the marketing options of early northern cattle producers. Before 1980, cattle herds in northern Australia were not typically contained within paddocks. Cattle spent their lives in the bush until mustered by producers for slaughter. The weight, quality, condition and age of these cattle varied considerably, some being as old as five or six years (abare 2007b). Consequently, the meat produced was of low quality and commanded a low price. Since that time there have been numerous improvements in herd management, animal genetics, animal husbandry techniques, feeding and veterinary care. These stemmed in part from the Australian Government’s Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign (BTEC) introduced in 1970. Property improvement in the form of improved infrastructure such as fencing, watering points and pasture management made the cattle industries in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, previously low input industries, more profitable (Rutherford 1995). The provision of extra water increased the carrying capacity of the land, allowing cattle to graze throughout the dry season. The average age of turnoff from the northern herd was reduced as a consequence. Australia’s cattle industry used to be dominated by European Bos taurus breeds for both dairy and beef production. As part of BTEC, the west and the north of the country were restocked with Bos indicus breeds. These animals are not only better suited to tropical climates than their European counterparts but are also indigenous to the target countries. They have a much greater tolerance to high temperatures and internal parasites, as well as greater tick resistance. These cattle played a major role in the development of Australia’s live cattle export sector. By providing a product that was competitive with domestic stock in export markets, the price for feeder and slaughter cattle from Australia increased. In recent years the industry has continued to develop and now ships to markets in the Middle East. Improvements in infrastructure, including land and sea transport, through the use of ships and cargo trucks specialising in transporting livestock, have also facilitated the export of live cattle. The marketability of live cattle in the north improved with the use of export depots. These depots, such as Opium Creek Station and the Berrimah Export Yards near Darwin, and Austasia export services at Katherine, are situated close to ports where quarantine requirements can be fulfilled by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service. As the northern export cattle industry developed, strong demand for live product resulted in prices for feeder and finished cattle increasing. As a consequence, the number of export accredited abattoirs in the region decreased as slaughter cattle were diverted away from the beef trade toward the live cattle trade. |
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| Australia’s sheep industry | ||
| Australia’s sheep industry has historically been dominated by outcomes in wool markets. However, while wool will remain important in the future, sheep meat production is becoming an increasingly significant driver of developments in the industry. This situation has been developing over a number of years as producers have moved resources away from wool production in favour of other farm enterprises such as prime lamb, crops and beef cattle. Since the late 1980s, export markets for lamb and mutton, as well as live animals, have become increasingly important for Australian producers. In 1988, Australia exported just 16 per cent of its lamb production. By 2005, not only had production increased by 42 per cent to 413 000 tonnes, but the proportion exported had also increased to 43 per cent. Demand for Australian lamb and mutton has been stimulated by trade liberalisation in the United States, falling production in key lamb markets (particularly the United States and Europe), limited growth in exports from competitor countries such as New Zealand and rising demand in Asia as consumers look for alternative meats in the wake of disease outbreaks affecting beef and poultry. Export growth has enabled the prime lamb industry to expand, increasing farm profitability and bringing about a substantial rise in the number of specialist lamb producers (abare 2004). Australia has been exporting live sheep for more than a hundred and fifty years. In recent years, the largest market for live sheep has been the Middle East, a trade route that developed during the 1970s, with demand stemming principally from Iran. Since that time, shipments have expanded to many countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. |
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| Awassi breed | ||
| In general, Middle East markets have a preference for carcasses in the 8 – 12 kilograms (carcass weight) range (MLA 2007) from ‘fat tail’ varieties of sheep such as the awassi breed. Fat tail sheep produce lean carcasses that are considered to be higher quality and therefore receive higher prices in Middle East market. They are the most common breed of sheep in the Middle East, where they are highly valued for both meat and milk. In order to benefit from the price premium offered for these animals relative to merino sheep, some Western Australia producers have introduced fat tail sheep breeds into their flocks. Despite the preference for fat tail sheep varieties, the majority of the sheep shipped to the Middle East are merinos, reflecting the limited number of fat tailed sheep in Australia. The Western Australia Department of Agriculture (2004) estimated there were only 64 000 fat tailed sheep in Australia in 2001 out of a total of 23 million sheep. As a consequence, merinos typically fall into the lower price categories for live export. |