Seasonal conditions across most of Australia, particularly Queensland and the Northern Territory have deteriorated in the last 12 months. As a result cattle slaughter numbers have increased significantly as producers bring forward turnoff. Total slaughter for 2013 is expected to reach 8.6 million head with total beef production of 2.3 million tons. This will reduce the total herd to 29.9 million head. Despite the high Australian dollar strong demand from the U.S. and China has supported strong beef exports with a total of over 1.5 million tons CWT expected to be shipped in 2013.
The effect of these seasonal conditions is expected to continue into 2014 with total slaughter of around 8.4 million head and beef production of 2.2 million tons forecast.
Pig production in Australia is relatively stable with forecast total production of 345,000 and 350,000 tons in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
