Grass-fed cattle from Queensland has helped boost national slaughter figures which are up 22 per cent year-to-date, the Australian Brahman Breeders' Association annual conference was told.
Meat and Livestock Australia market information manager Stephen Bignell said Queensland had increased its processing capacity by around 30pc compared with last year - an average 65,000 head being slaughtered a week - although 2022 was impacted by disruptions including COVID-19 and flooding events.
With the official figures due out in a couple of weeks, Mr Bignell provided an early insight to the 120-strong crowd who gathered at the main conference venue in Rockhampton, along with a satellite venue at Atherton.
The sunshine state continues to rebuild its female herd, with female slaughter sitting 10 pc below the national average.
In young cattle, prices were down 41 pc compared to May 2022, with throughput jumping a whopping 73 pc on May 2022 levels.
Demand from southern buyers pushed up the number of Brahman transactions in the saleyards, with the MLA finding an 9.3 pc increase from 2019 to 2020, and a 39 pc increase in 2022.
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Less Brahman females were transacted, with 48 pc in 2019, dropping to 40.2 pc in 2022.
Mr Bignell said the industry's latest 2023 figures showed the herd size (28.8m), slaughter (6.6m) and production (21m T) were all up on 2022 figures.
"The 28.8m size herd is the largest herd size since 2014, and that is largely due to three consecutive La Nina events," Mr Bignell said.
In 2022, Australia recorded its lowest production since 1997 due to low supply but production is projected to increase to the become the industry's third highest in 2025, he said.
Mr Bignell said Australia's location in southeast Asia would be a benefit, particularly in terms of countries like the Philippines which is expected to increase total consumption by 40 pc by 2031.
He said the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement would open up a market for 35,000 tonnes of Australian beef - if filled it would become the seventh biggest market for Australian beef - rising to 100,000 tonnes over 10 years.
"We are getting access to a bigger share of a high value market," Mr Bignell said. "But it won't be a silver bullet."
With drought conditions appearing to ease or less severe in America, the country's beef cattle industry is set to embark on a massive herd rebuilding phase following "significant female slaughter rates".
This would provide opportunities for Australian beef with less US product on the global market for longer, he said.
