The recent record surge in Australian beef exports continued during August, with a monthly total of 121,797 tonnes shipped to all markets representing the third highest monthly volume on record.

The tonnage was exceeded only by July this year, when a record just short of 130,000t was despatched to export customers, and March in 2015 during the middle of a raging drought, when the herd was being liquidated with a frenzy, when monthly exports reached 123,468t.

On top of the July all-time record for volume, it means Australia’s beef and veal exports have exceeded a quarter of a million tonnes in just two months.

August export volume was almost 20,000t or 19pc above August last year.

As large as the July record figure was, it was partly impacted by carry-over stocks held in cold storage from late June that pushed numbers even higher than anticipated in the July period.

Declining availability of export meat out of the United States was also a contributing factor. There’s clearly some displacement of US exports now taking place from Australia, into North Asia and elsewhere, as the US beef system starts to struggle under the weight of a beef herd now at its lowest level since 1951.

The past three months has seen weekly beef slaughter at or above 140,000 head per week across Australia (NLRS data) and the added impact of long-term increasing carcase weights in Australian slaughter cattle (currently 310kg) has served to underpin the recent export trade surge.

For the current calendar year to date, Australian export beef shipments are now at 853,204t, more than 175,000t or 26pc higher than the same eight months last year. The eight-month year-to-date record was set back in the 2015 drought year, when January-August exports reached 874,262t – indicating just how recent the latest trade surge has been. During the 2015 drought, slaughter and export volumes remained consistently high right throughout the year.

While this year’s June monthly volumes were reasonably strong at 106,000t, there was no clear forewarning that tonnage would explode the way it has during July and August.

Most markets very active

While the record July shipments are hard to top, most Australian beef export customers continued to purchase strongly during August – especially when compared with August last year, today’s DAFF statistical release shows.

The United States continues to shine as Australia’s standout export customer, in sheer volume terms, taking an incredible 41,006t – up another 2466t or 6.4pc from already-high July shipment volume, and 15,200t or 59pc higher than August last year.

Calendar year to date, the US has now taken almost 235,000t of Aussie beef, up 96,000t or 69pc on the same seven-month period last year.

Once again, the trend clearly reflects the point that when the US needs beef, it has the ability and determination to bid imported product away from all of Australia’s other export customers.

While these numbers are impressive, history shows the all-time peak in Australia’s monthly exports to the US came in September 2014 (drought period here, combined with beef shortage in the US), when we loaded an incredible 47,238t of beef into the market in just 30 days. The previous time when monthly exports were as high as last month was September 2015. Keep in mind this was well before the dawn of the China export market era, meaning there were less competitors in play for Australian product.

Exports to Japan last month came off near-record July volume to 19,676t, down 25pc, but were up 2800t or 17pc on August last year. Year-to-date, our exports to Japan have now reached 179,882t, up 42,000t or 31pc on the same weight months last year.

A big part of that trend is the gradual decline in exports to Japan out of the US, now being displaced more by Australian product.

A similar ‘displacement’ story applies in South Korea, where tonnage shipped last month reached 17,675t, back 2600t or 13pc on record July shipments, but still 2pc above August last year.

For the eight months year-to-date, volume to South Korea has reached 127,472t, 6000t or 5pc up on last year (large domestic Hanwoo cattle slaughter has had some moderating impact on this relatively small growth).

China has been regarded as a challenging export market so far this year due to local economic conditions limiting demand, but Australia’s August exports at 15,149t continued a recent lift in business, back only 7pc on July figures, while still down about 2000t or 11pc compared with August last year. Similarly, year-to-date statistics show trade at just over 121,000t, 8pc lower than last year for the same period.

Secondary and emerging markets followed a very similar trend in July to the ‘big four.’

Indonesia has been an emerging growth market for Australian beef during 2024, and that trend continued in August, when exports totalled 8498t. That figure was up 1500t or 22pc on July trade, and 1100t or 14pc on August last year. For the eight months ending August, volume has reached just short of 49,000t, up 6pc on last year.

Smaller markets like Taiwan (3358t), the Philippines (2484t), Canada (2448t, up another 10pc on July) and Thailand (1995t, up 7pc) all followed a consolidating trend evident this year.