Australian beef exports hold near record as China tariff cuts trade there

Australia's beef exports reached 132,146 tonnes in September, up 3% on August but slightly below the 139,000 tonnes of September last year, as quotas and tariffs continued to distort trade, Beef Central's Jon Condon reports. For the nine months to 30 September exports hit a record 1.209 million tonnes, 82,000 tonnes or 7% more than a year earlier.

China remains the big gap. Under a 55% safeguard tariff applied since mid-June and lasting to the end of the year, September shipments to China were just 7,778 tonnes, a little over a third of the 20,700 tonnes of September last year. Year to date, China has taken 163,011 tonnes against 203,200 tonnes a year earlier. Some frozen beef may be going into cold storage for release in China in the new quota year.

The United States took up much of the slack, buying 43,479 tonnes in September, 4% more than a year earlier. With the US herd at 70-year lows, Australian shipments there reached a record 378,658 tonnes in nine months, up 15%. There is little sign yet that recent US tariff decisions are hurting Australian lean trimmings: frozen boneless exports were 32,600 tonnes. The first 100,000-tonne tranche of tariff-free US access announced for lean grinding beef, mostly open to Brazil, was only 37.5% filled by 28 September, leaving 62,000 tonnes unused.

Other markets grew. Japan took 27,107 tonnes in September, 20% more than a year earlier, and 203,312 tonnes in nine months. South Korea took 17,927 tonnes and remains slightly ahead of Japan for the year at 206,674 tonnes, up 24%. Canada took 6,873 tonnes, and a record 43,100 tonnes year to date; the United Kingdom took 1,476 tonnes and more than 16,000 tonnes so far this year. Middle East trade rose to 6,112 tonnes despite regional conflict.

Indonesia went the other way: boxed beef shipments fell to 3,008 tonnes, less than half last September's 6,728 tonnes, under price competition from other suppliers, and 26,488 tonnes for the year against 48,500 tonnes in 2025.

Meat & Livestock Australia's September projections forecast a record 1.606 million tonnes of beef exports for calendar 2026, about 100,000 tonnes more than last year. That needs about 132,000 tonnes a month for the rest of the year, which looks within reach.

Photo: W. Bulach / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Source: Beef Central