Other areas that saw increased exports of feeder cattle were Indonesia (241,000), Vietnam (19,000), and Israel (39,000), creating the highest year-to-May live cattle exports since 2016, at 484,000 head.
Exports of feeder cattle saw a spike in May, as consistent supply largely reflected the impact of a disappointing wet season. The 84,000 head of feeder cattle shipped in May was the highest monthly consignment since October last year (89,000 head).
So far in 2019, feeder cattle exports increased 25% compared to the same period in 2018.
Indonesia has taken the majority of this supply, accounting for 241,000 head of the 329,000 feeder cattle total. Feeder shipments in May (63,000 head), will have helped to replenish feedlot inventories, post the peak demand period during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.
Israel has also taken more feeder cattle in 2019 compared to 2018, at 39,000 head, while Vietnam has also increased intake of feeder cattle at 19,000 head for the calendar year to May.
The other major increase in 2019 has been breeder cattle exports. So far in 2019, live breeder cattle exports are up 89% to 68,000 head, compared to the same period in 2018. China accounted for 67% of all breeder shipments so far in 2019, with exports to the market up 85%, to 46,000 head for the calendar year to May.
Live sheep exports
On the sheep side, year-to-date live sheep exports totalled just over 700,000 head, down 4% on the same period in 2018, as the trade now enters the northern summer shutdown. MLA said that Kuwait had been the largest market so far in 2019, with 239,000 head exported. May proved to be a strong month for sheep trade to Kuwait, with a total of 90,000 head shipped.