Australia-Beef production will drop in 2009.

AUSTRALIA-BEEF PRODUCTION COULD DROP IN 2009.

Australian beef production may drop in 2009 because fewer cattle are available for slaughter after feedlot herds shrank last year, according to the U..S. Foreign Agricultural Service.

About 8.6 million head of cattle will be slaughtered, down from 8.78 million a year earlier, Mike Darby, an agricultural specialist, said in a report dated March 6. Beef and veal output will total 2.1 million tons, down 2.7 percent, and prices will decline as Australian meat exports fall, he said.

"The forecast supply of slaughter cattle is expected to fall in 2009 as a result of historically low numbers of cattle on feed," Darby said. "Reduced slaughter is expected to cause lower production and lower exports. A lack of export demand in traditional markets such as Japan and Korea is expected to place downward pressure of domestic prices."

Cattle inventories may grow to 28.95 million head this year, up from 28.58 million in 2008, because of increased supplies of feed grains and low cattle prices that are causing producers to retain animals rather than sell to slaughterhouses, Darby said. Widespread flooding in northern Australia may have killed as many as 150,000 head of cattle, he said.

Beef exports are forecast at 1.35 million tons, a 4.1 percent decline from the prior year, according to the report.

Dry weather that followed "above-average rainfall" in November and December resulted in bush fires that killed hundreds of people, Darby said. Still, the impact on the livestock industry will "be minor," he said.