May 2024 saw a new monthly trade volume record set for Aussie lamb exports with 36,703 tonnes swt reported shipped for the month.
This beats the previous record of 31,799 tonnes (set in August 2023) by 15%.
The 2024 season has been a huge year for lamb export flows with average monthly volumes this year running at nearly 31,000 tonnes per month.
A comparison to the five-year seasonal trend shows that average monthly flows historically have sat at around 23,000 tonnes, so current trade volumes are running 34% higher than the average pattern.
In terms of market share for trade destinations, the USA continues to dominate the lamb export trade in 2024 accounting for 23% of the flows so far this year.
Meanwhile, China sit in second place on around 15% of the total trade in Aussie lamb.
A summary of the top Aussie lamb export destinations is as follows.
USA – May 2024 saw 8,465 tonnes of Australian lamb exported to the USA. This is the strongest monthly flows seen to the USA on record beating the previous peak of 7,842 tonnes set in June 2021 by 8%. The lamb export figures for May 2024 represent a 25% increase from April 2024 and have pushed monthly flows to the US to levels that are nearly 53% above the five-year average trade volumes for May.
China – In contrast to the USA, demand for Aussie lamb from China has been reasonably subdued in 2024 and May was no exception. There was 5,219 tonnes reported shipped to China during May just 26 tonnes fewer than the volumes exported in April 2024. Compared to the five-year average pattern the current export flows of Aussie lamb to China are running 18% below the average pattern for May.
The others – Despite the sluggish demand from China, the demand for Aussie lamb from all other destinations (excluding USA & China) is booming. There was 23,020 tonnes shipped to the other destinations in May 2024, beating the previous monthly record of 19,311 tonnes, which was only set last month, by 19%. Compared to the five-year average trade for May the current flows to other destinations are running nearly 67% above trend.
