While falling cattle numbers have reduced beef production in the US and Europe, Brazilian and Australian data shows increased beef exports in February this year compared with the same month last year. Figure 1 shows that Australia’s beef exports rebounded after a dip in January, to almost 131,000 tonnes (t). This is 14,000t more than the 117,000t exported in February 2025.

What is of particular interest to Irish beef producers is their exports to the UK. In February, Australia exported 1,671t of beef to the UK which is more than double the 744t exported in the same month last year. As Figure 2 shows, Australia’s beef exports to the UK have been averaging between 1,500 and 2,000t per month since May last year. They are now the third most important supplier after Ireland and New Zealand.

Australian sheepmeat exports in February were just under 47,000t which is over 5,000t lower than the 52,321t exported in the same month last year. China and Hong Kong combined is the main export market taking 9,383t last month which is down from 12,643t in February last year. The US is their next largest export market taking just over 8,000t in February which is down on the 9,640t exported in February last year.

ADVERTISEMENT

As has been the case with beef, the UK has been a growing market for Australian sheepmeat exports since the trade deal came into effect at the end of May 2023. In February, 2,543t were exported to the UK, up from 2,096t in February 2025.

Brazil

Brazil’s beef exports also performed strongly in February. ABIEC, the trade association that represent meat exporters report that the volume exported was 267,319t which is almost 22% more than in the same month last year. That brings the total exported for the first two months of 2026 to 531,298t which is a 23.8 % increase in volume compared with the first two months of 2025 and was worth $2.82bn (€2.44bn), an increase in value of 39% year on year.

The value per tonne increased to $5,380 (€4,620), the highest since October 2022.

Their main export market continues to be China which accounted for 106,702t in February followed by the US on 39,440t. Russia was the destination for 15,762t of Brazilian beef last month with a further 13,857t exported to Chile.

The European Union is their fifth most important export market, taking 10,906t in February, up from 7,811t in February 2025.

Quota concern

For the first two months of the year, Brazil has filled almost 250,000t of its 1.1m tonne China quota for 2026. At this level of exports, they are on schedule to fill the quota by September which means anything exported after the quota is filled would carry an additional 55% tariff.

There had been speculation that the Government would intervene to allocate the quota between exporters but they announced this week that they would not intervene. This has created a concern that companies will compete to maximise their exports ahead of the quota being filled and depress prices in the process.