Saudi Arabia meat trade review

According to the WTO, meat and edible offal of poultry was the most important agriculture import to Saudi Arabia in 2015.

USDA projects Saudi imports of ready to cook weight of broiler will be 790,000 tonnes in 2017. Saudi Arabia is the third largest importer after Japan and Mexico.

Australian trade in red meat is displayed in below graphic. Carcase mutton is the largest component of the trade following by offal and beef. Australian chilled lamb exports exceed frozen lamb exports to Saudi Arabia and chilled beef exports from Australia are about half frozen beef exports.

The USA was re-admitted to supply Saudi Arabia with beef in July 2016 after being banned for 4 years.  Below graphic is FAO OECD projection of Saudi Arabia production by meat type:

FAO is projecting a higher level of poultry imports than USDA and a steady increase going forward. Sheep meat imports are forecast at 125,000 tonnes carcase weight in 2017, with beef imports 185,000 tonnes.

Saudi Arabia imported around 15,000 tonnes of goat meat according to UN Comtrade figures in 2015 with a value of US$79 million.

Saudi Customs and Statistics figures for February 2017 showed imports of chilled beef from Australia of 107 tonnes. The graphic below shows Brazil is the largest chilled beef supplier.

our preliminary work indicates no USA chilled or frozen beef was imported by Saudi Arabia in February 2017.

Frozen imports of beef are again headed by Brazil.

India was the second largest supplier of frozen bovine meat in February 2017 and priced at similar levels to import values of Australian frozen beef. Brazilian frozen beef import tonnage was 2,148 tonnes at a unit value of US$3.75 kg. Australia was third in line behind India and Pakistan in imports of fresh chilled lamb carcases into Saudi Arabia in February. Ethiopia was 4th ahead of New Zealand. Australia was the largest supplier of fresh bone in sheep meat in February out of only two suppliers, with New Zealand a way back. Australia supplied almost double that of New Zealand in terms of frozen sheep meat carcases. 

New Zealand was the largest supplier by value in bone in frozen sheep meat cuts in February 2017.

Australia, India, Brazil - April 2017 beef exports snapshot

We have the Indian, Australian and Brazilian bovine meat export numbers for April 2017 and it provides an interesting snapshot of how the competition is shaping up early part of this shipping year.

India is well ahead with over 97,000 tonnes of frozen buffalo shipped in the month of April. Mostly boneless in cartons. Range of specifications.

Brazil is next with over 70,000 tonnes in April 2017, down 16,000 tonnes on the same month in 2016.

Australia is ranked third in tonnage in April 2017, with just under 67,000 tonnes in the month of April 2017, a sharp correction in volume exported of almost 18,000 tonnes due to reduced cattle supplies and record prices in Australia.

 What is most interesting is the unit values per kg in USD. Total Indian buffalo unit value in April was US$2.86 per kg. This compares with Brazilian fresh frozen beef export unit value of US$4.16 per kg in April 2017. There is a notable rise in unit value in Brazil for fresh frozen beef of 11% compared with April 2016. Australian unit value for total beef exports are estimated from ABS trade figures and April 2017 beef and veal shipped weight and comes to US$6.01 per kg. All these figures are comparable as they generally refer to FAS or FOB ports of export. The total value of beef/bovine exports is also of interest, with India running at US$278 million in April, Brazil $403 million and Australia almost level with Brazil on lower volume at US$402 million.

We have also estimated some key market unit values for Australia based on import market statistics in the key markets of Japan, USA and Korea. Japan leads in unit value per kg at US$6.99 per kg.

Brazilian figures by key markets are not available for April 2017, however Jan-Apr 2017 is available in this link.

We have a preliminary estimate of USA fresh, chilled and frozen beef exports to all destinations in April 2017 of US$468 million. Our estimate of total fresh, chilled and frozen beef export volume for April 2017 is 70,000 tonnes. Unit value per kg is calculated as US$6.78 per kg.

Australia USA beef imports in selected Asian countries

Malaysia is a key market in Asia and the second largest market globally for Indian buffalo exports.

WTO trade graphic

Malaysian import statistics for the first 3 months of 2017 show Australia supplied MYR 72.4 million and, on current exchange rates, this amounts to almost $17 million USD of beef. North American beef supplies were minimal at MYR $173,000.

For the 2 months in 2017 available for the Philippines, Australia supplied USD$8.8 million for beef and USA USD$4.2 million.

The third market examined was Thailand. In 2017 Australia supplied USD$13.4 million for beef and USA USD$3.4 million.