Australian beef exports Australian Broadcasting Corporation a record in April, new data show. China is increasing imports of Australian beef amid a near halt in US beef exports to China, Australian media said.
Australia exported more than 127,000 tons of beef in April, the most on record, the report said. Australia’s biggest customer for beef exports in April was the US (37,213 tonnes) , followed by China (21,572 tonnes) . In grain-fed beef, Australia exported more than 37,000 tonnes in April, also a record monthly export, with China accounting for a third of the total. As of April, China had imported about 42,000 tonnes of grain-fed beef from Australia this year, up 36 per cent from the same period last year.
Australian beef is helping Chinese consumers avoid the inconvenience of stopping imports of U.S. beef, which is also good news for Australia’s economy, the Australian news service said Wednesday.
Garrett, an American living in Shanghai, was startled earlier this week when he found Australian ground beef at a high-end grocery store for RMB46. “It used to be American ground beef, but now. . . it says Australian ground beef,” he says, imports from Australia show that stopping U.S. beef isn’t burdening Chinese consumers — China is the world’s largest beef importer, but relies on the United States for only 5% of its total beef imports. The United States Department of Agriculture 2024 exports $1.6 billion (11.5 billion yuan) worth of beef to China, its third-largest export market.
“China won’t be affected and I think we will all start eating Australian beef in China now,” Garrett said. “I’m sure it tastes good and welcome to the New World.”
“The increased interest from China is a boon for Australian beef exporters and gives them the opportunity to sell more beef,” said Angus John Logie Baird, Senior Meat Trading Analyst at Rabobank. Australian beef production is at an all-time high, so an increase in exports will help pull products into the supply chain.”