Australia: Livestock and Products Annual
The Australian beef cattle herd is expected to begin rebuilding in 2017, following record years of slaughter in response to high overseas prices and poor pasture conditions. This turnaround reflects the sharp break in drought conditions from mid-2016, especially in Queensland and NSW. The beef cattle herd size dropped to an estimated 26 million in 2016 but is expected by Post to gradually recover from late 2017 as cow and calf slaughter declines. Beef and veal production is estimated by Post to have declined to 2.2 million MT over 2016 and to reach 2.0 million MT in 2017. Australian exports of beef and veal are therefore forecast to decline to 1.4 million MT despite continued strong international demand. Pork production is stable and focused on fresh pork products while imports supply most of the market for processed pork products.
