Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council cements trading relationships in Middle East visit

Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council chair David Galvin and CEO Mark Harvey-Sutton have visited key customers and markets in the Middle East in a bid to retain strong industry relationships in the region. The pair met with stakeholders in Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates last week, as the Albanese Government pushes ahead with plans to ban live sheep exports by sea from mid-2028. Mr Galvin said it was “very humbling” to see Australia’s positive reputation in countries such as Kuwait and Jordan, which are big importers of Australian livestock. “Over many decades we have given these countries food security,” he said. “They are immensely grateful for this and have demonstrated a very strong desire for the trade to continue for many years to come.” Mr Galvin said Australia’s livestock trade had helped ensure the Middle East could service all segments of their consumer markets, along with their significant investment in chilled and frozen meat from Australia. Kuwait was the largest importer of live Australian sheep by sea in 2023, receiving more than 270,000 head. This made up 46 per cent of total sheep exports from Australia for 2023. December 2023 also marked the first time in over a decade that Australia exported sheep to Saudi Arabia, which previously imported about one million head of Australian sheep annually. Once Australia’s biggest live sheep market, Saudi Arabia stopped accepting shipments in 2012 after rejecting strict new regulations imposed by the Australian Government. The regulations were part of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System, which effectively applies Australian animal welfare laws within trading partners’ borders. Some 5000 slaughter sheep were exported to Saudi Arabia in the first month of the trade reopening, making up just under 6 per cent of exports for the month. Mr Harvey-Sutton said Australian exporters would soon be able to also export sheep to Morocco, building more market access options in the region. “When you couple this with the significant re-entry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after years of not importing Australian sheep, it shows a real opportunity for growth of the livestock trade in the region,” he said. “We look forward to reporting back our observations to the Australian Government when we return, so they can better understand the reality of how these markets work, and the important role the Australian livestock industry plays in our strong diplomatic relationships in the region.”