A final flurry

Livestock | 16th February 2023 | By Matt Dalgleish

Markert Morsel

Monthly live sheep export volumes picked up pace in October and November of 2022 with the trend hitting the average pattern for the first time in 2022, with 51,790 and 104,048 head of sheep shipped, respectively each month. However the December flows eased back towards volumes consistent with the finish of 2021 at a fraction under 60,000 head.

Kuwait, our most reliable live export partner and number one destination for Aussie sheep, managed to take monthly volumes that were roughly in line with their normal seasonal trend during quarter four of 2022, averaging nearly 40,000 head per month across the final three months of 2022.

November saw Israel spark into life, taking 31,200 head of sheep and pushing the demand from “other destinations” towards the average trend for the only month during the 2022 season. Unfortunately, the spike in demand was short lived with volumes easing again into December.

For the entire 2022 period 502,758 sheep were reported as exported live, down nearly 13% on the numbers seen shipped in 2021. Compared to the five-year average the volumes seen exported in 2022 were 54% under trend and it is a very long way back to the 1.1 million head seen transported in 2018 and 2019, not to mention the 2.3 million head we exported just a decade ago.

Tags

  • Live Sheep
  • Live export
  • Exports
  • Trade
  • Sheep