Australia-Live Sheep exports.

AUSTRALIA-Live export prices put sheep on ships

Australian live sheep exports during February jumped 25% year-on-year to 399,205 head. Contributing to the rise for the month were solid Australian live sheep export prices to the Middle East which averaged 21% higher year-on-year, at A$73/head. While live sheep export numbers are highly variable on a monthly basis and are largely driven by religious festivals in the Middle East, tighter Australian sheep supplies have seen consignments during the first two months of 2009 slip 7% year-on-year, to 584,136 head (Australian Bureau of Statistics).Driving the increase in shipments during February was Saudi Arabia, with exports increasing 79% year-on-year, to 122,545 head and accounting for 31% of total Australian live sheep exports for the month.Also contributing to the higher shipments during February was a 170% surge in shipments to Qatar, to 27,000 head and a 22% increase to the UAE, to 17,311 head. Demand for live sheep was also elevated in Bahrain, with numbers lifting 7%, to 82,000 head.Live sheep consignments to Kuwait (Australia’s second largest live sheep market) during February were unchanged year-on-year, at 106,416 head.WA accounted for 75% of the live sheep exported during the month with a 67% year-on-year increase in numbers, to 299,322 head. The large increase in sheep exports from WA more than offset a 51% fall in consignments out of SA (to 20,000 head) and a 20% decline in numbers shipped from Victoria (to 79,883).