Mutton compares to ewe
Mutton Export Summary June 2023
Total mutton exports for Australia over June eased 10% from the previous month, but still managed to set volumes nearly 74% above the five-year average for June with 17,757 tonnes reported shipped. Since the start of the year average monthly mutton exports are running 42% above the normal seasonal trend, indicative of some very strong offshore demand this season.
As it is the middle of the year we should take a quick look at where it is all going. China continues to take the lion’s share with 44.1% of the trade, Malaysia has well and truly unseated the USA for second spot this year sitting on 11.4% and the America has been relegated to third place on 6.2%.
Given the strong demand seen in China for mutton in 2023 and the fact they account for so much of the trade it’s no wonder why export volumes are booming. In June China saw a slight 5% easing to 8,217 tonnes of mutton consigned. Despite the decline in the trade to China in June the volumes exported still managed to break all previous June records, so for anyone that is counting this will be the sixth consecutive month that the respective monthly record has been broken.
In case that isn’t clear I’ll rephrase it. In terms of Australian mutton trade to China January 2023 has been the strongest January on record, February 2023 has been the strongest February on record, March 2023 has been the strongest March on record, April 2023…. you get the idea!
Malaysia saw a 12% decline in the trade over the month, but remains at pretty strong levels relative to the average pattern. There was 1,648 tonnes of mutton shipped to Malaysia in June which represents levels that are 15% higher than the June average, according to the last five-years of trade.
Meanwhile mutton exports to all other destinations (excluding China & Malaysia) dipped by 15% in June. Despite the easing seen for mutton exports in June there was still 7,710 tonnes exported, which is 53% higher than the five-year average for June so still a pretty robust result.
