Carving up global beef production – the north-south divide

Having recently reported on Brazil’s increased beef exports for the first four months of 2026, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) is now reporting that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows the beef industry “has begun 2026 with the strongest start on record”. This is attributed to “high throughput, favourable seasonal conditions in northern regions and increased yardings in parts of New South Wales”.

Australia produced 730,077 tonnes of beef in the first quarter of 2026, which was a 2% increase on the final quarter of last year – and 8% higher than the first quarter of 2025.

This makes it the highest first quarter production on record.

Increasing production and exports from these southern hemisphere countries is in direct contrast with the Unites States and Europe where beef production has been in decline.

Australia, like Ireland, is a major net exporter of beef with around 70% of production exported.

Markets

Until recently, it served completely different markets with Australia focused primarily in North America, Asia and the Middle East.

It now competes with Irish beef for a share of the UK market for imported beef.

While its sales there have grown significantly, it was from a particularly low base.

Last month, it exported 2,700 tonnes of beef to the UK – which is still small in the overall context of Australian beef exports.

13% increase

Its largest single market is the United States.

USDA data shows that up to the end of the fist week in May, 170,460 tonnes of Australian beef was imported, a 13% increase on the 150,746 tonnes imported in the same period last year.

There has been a huge increase in demand from the US in the past couple of years, driven by the fall in US production as its cattle herd is at a 75-year low.

As has been the case, the UK is a growing market for Australia’s sheepmeat exports

The high value Asian markets in Japan and South Korea are also lucrative for Australian beef exports and it has benefited in China from a greatly reduced US presence over the past year.

Sheepmeat

There was a sharp downturn in Australian sheepmeat production during the first quarter with 5.8m lambs processed, down 15% year on year and 2.05 million head of older sheep, down 32% compared with the same quarter last year.

Australia is the world’s largest sheepmeat exporter and its main customer is China which received just over 34,000 tonnes in the first four months of 2026, followed by the US which took 30,457 tonnes up to the end of the first week in May – an 8% increase on the same period last year, according to USDA import data.

As has been the case, the UK is a growing market for Australia’s sheepmeat exports.

In the first two months of 2026, AHDB data shows that UK sheepmeat imports from Australia were up almost 46% at 3,854 tonnes; this is still well behind New Zealand which supplied 6,224 tonnes.

The Irish interest in Australia’s production and export trends in beef and sheepmeat is very much shaped by its growing trading relationship with the UK.

This was enhanced by the post Brexit UK-Australia trade deal which facilitates development of its beef and sheepmeat exports to the UK where it is in competition with Irish exports.

Australia has also concluded a trade deal with the EU for both beef and sheepmeat but with much lower quotas than it has for the UK.