Meat & Livestock Australia  (MLA ) have recently published  their  future projections  for  the Australian Beef Industry. According to MLA the Australian beef industry is  expected to begin 2017 as it ended 2016, facing  tight supplies. It is projected that the Australian cattle slaughter will  decrease  by  3% in  2017 to 7.1 million head. This  follows  the pattern set in 2016  where the cattle slaughter dropped by a staggering 19%.  As slaughter numbers are falling steadily, the Australian cattle herd is expected to increase.  This will be the first increase in 3 years.

According to Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA)  beef exports are  expected to fall  a further 5%  to 970,000  m/t (swt). Figures suggest that 69% of all Australian  beef production is  destined for international markets. In 2016  Japan overtook the USA as the largest importer of Australian beef. Exports to the USA fell by 42% , however it is anticipated that exports to the USA will stabilise in 2017.

It is expected that Japan will remain as the largest export destination for Australian beef while  Korea will remain the third largest export destination.  Exports to China fell by 37% in 2016 .  One of the main reasons for this was the increased shipments of Brazilian beef destined for the Chinese market.