For the monetary 12 months ending June 2025, Australia exported simply shy of 620,000 tonnes of sheepmeat, a rise of 5% on the 2023-24 12 months when the earlier document was set. Mutton was the key mover, growing by 16% and making up for lamb truly dipping by 1%. China remained our largest mixed market by far — 60,000 tonnes forward of the following largest — and took an additional 7% of product year-on-year.
Lamb exports hit a month-to-month document in Could earlier than dipping barely in June, however had been nonetheless on the highest quantity ever for that exact month and stayed above year-ago ranges. Volumes for the year-to-date are monitoring at 2% above the identical time in 2024, regardless of monetary 12 months figures falling by 1%. The US has maintained its majority market share with 22% this 12 months, and for FY2024-25 US imports elevated by 5%. Nonetheless, we could also be beginning to see the affect of the ten% tariff applied in April, as lamb volumes to the US have been decrease year-on-year every month since March.
China, alternatively, has been growing its consumption of Australian lamb each month since March, importing 55% extra in June than the earlier 12 months. This comes on the again of recent or expanded entry for 17 Australian processors into China from April, and, in fact, tit-for-tat commerce tariffs between China and the US leaving China in search of protein elsewhere. Lamb exports to China fell by 9% for FY2024-25 however are up 19% for this calendar year-to-date.
To not be ignored, Australia’s free commerce settlement with the UK has meant lamb exports there have lifted 43% up to now 12 months, whereas Saudi Arabia rose by 25% and Malaysia by 13%. Which brings us to mutton, the place exports rose 16% for FY2024-25, pushed by an 18% enhance to China, which imported almost 100,000 tonnes of the 256,000-tonne complete. A 19% enhance in mutton to Malaysia for that interval has cemented it as Australia’s third-largest sheepmeat market, with exports there monitoring at document ranges for the year-to-date.
Whereas the commerce dispute between China and the US could also be benefiting Australia’s sheepmeat market, different worldwide elements may very well be beginning to have the alternative impact. 12 months-to-date lamb exports to the Center East, which is at the moment suffering from battle, have fallen 22%, whereas their mutton consumption is down 8%.
