Australia's world-leading tallow trade is unlikely to be hurt by the conflict in the Gulf and may even gain from it, the Australian Renderers Association said as its 18th international symposium opened in Melbourne with almost 400 registrants from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, South-East Asia and the EU — its largest ever, nearly half of them first-timers.

Executive officer Jess Bloomfield said the Middle East conflict had barely touched the trade: 'If anything, the biofuels market has probably pushed up the demand in the US. There's strong demand there, and that hasn't changed in the last six months.' US renewable volume obligations for low-carbon feedstock drive that demand, and US tariff settings favour Australia — Brazilian beef tallow faces a combined 37.5% tariff against 12.5% on Australian product.

Australia exported about 1.01 million tonnes of rendered products in 2025, worth about $1.54 billion: some 360,000 tonnes of animal protein meals and 650,000 tonnes of tallow and used cooking oil. Export value rose 26.5% year on year and volume 6.2%, with the US the leading market. In 2025, 65% of fats and oils went to the US and 26% to Singapore for renewable fuel production, ARA president Peter Milzewski said, while protein meals go mainly to Asia — Vietnam, Taiwan, China and Malaysia — for stockfeed, pet food and aquaculture. Mid-August tallow prices were about US$1,300 a tonne, while hides, skins and foetal blood have lost much of their value in recent years.

Volumes track livestock processing: Australia slaughtered 9.28 million cattle in 2025, the most since 1978, and throughput has stayed high through 2026, while sheep supply has tightened as flocks shrink and breeders are retained. Indonesia, once the biggest tallow market, reinstated the trade last July with six Australian plants approved, and in June the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation trialled rendered products as marine fuel in a BHP-chartered bulk carrier.

Asked whether Australia should build its own biofuels industry rather than feed others', Ms Bloomfield said the feedstock is here and only the policy settings are missing. The symposium's first day focused on value from wastewater — one modelled plant could recover three tonnes of tallow a week, generate 17 MWh of heat a day from biogas and reuse 380 cubic metres of water — and the ARA announced an innovation and technology advisory committee on automation, AI and higher-value products.

Source: Beef Central