Australia exports a record amount of beef in July

Australia exported 129,998 tonnes of beef in July, beating the previous monthly record set in March 2015.

Meat and Livestock Australia’s Tim Jackson said strong international demand combined with bigger carcass weights had lifted the beef industry to new highs.

“It’s the most beef ever exported by Australia in any month, and is up 34 per cent compared to July last year and up about 5 per cent on the previous record set in 2015,” he said.

“In particular, exports to the United States topped at 38,540 tonnes in July, which was up 61 per cent compared to July last year.”

Mr Jackson said the next biggest customers were Japan (26,297 tonnes), South Korea (20,331 tonnes) and China (16,249 tonnes).

He said the US was facing a shortage of lean beef to make hamburgers and was paying record money to import Australian product.

“This week just gone, the US imported beef price 90 [CL — chemical lean] reached $9.88 per kilogram, which is a record price and shows how the demand is going,” he said.