Australia risks US beef quota restrictions after export surge

SYDNEY: Australian beef producers could face US quota restrictions for the first time in more than a decade as strong demand combined with record high local slaughter rates fuel a boom in exports.

With the US cattle herd running near its lowest level in more than 60 years, Australia has been capitalising on growing hunger for steak and hamburgers, particularly given dry conditions that have encouraged farmers in major Australian beef growing areas to cut their herd sizes.

"Although we are halfway through the quota year, current strong exports mean we have already reached more than 55 per cent of our 418,214 tonne quota for beef exports to the US," Australia's Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said in a statement.

"If exports continue at the current rate, we could see the quota allocation system triggered for the first time under the current arrangements for beef exports to the US"

Australia, which signed a US free-trade deal a decade ago, is the world's third-largest beef seller. Exports have posted three record years, peaking last season at 1.223 million tonnes, with the United States taking about one-third.

If 85 percent of the US quota is reached by October 1, the remaining quota will be allocated proportionally, based on Australian exporters' records of shipments.