Mutton lasts forever
Market Morsel
It’s a bit of a tale of three key mutton export destinations – China, Malaysia & the USA. They have all seen flows ease over April, but China remains well above their normal trend, Malaysia is pretty much sitting right on trend and the USA is below the average seasonal trend in April.
Total mutton exports over April eased by 27% to see 15,772 tonnes swt consigned. While this is a significant monthly fall it is coming from a very high level in March so were still sitting 38% above the five-year average pattern for April, despite the easing.
A summary of our top three trade destinations for Aussie mutton, accounting for nearly 63% of the trade so far in 2023 shows the following:
- China – saw mutton exports ease by 21% during April to 7,493 tonnes swt. Despite the decline in April Chinese mutton demand still sits 88% above the April seasonal pattern, according to the last five-years. Additionally, this is the strongest April on record, so that’s now four consecutive months that the respective monthly record has been broken.
- Malaysia – dropped 49% to 1,340 tonnes for April 2023, which is just 29 tonnes below the five-year average pattern for April.
- USA – mirrored the Malaysian decline with a 49% easing over April to 720 tonnes swt. Current mutton exports to the USA sit 37% under the five-year average for April.
