THE United States and China continued to dominate Australia’s beef export trade during April, monthly shipment data released this morning by the Department of Agriculture shows.

Total volume to all export markets last month reached 140,943 tonnes, up 13,770t or 11 percent from April last year, and only moderately smaller than the booming March number that fell just short of 150,000t. March was in fact the nation’s second highest shipment volume on record.

Fewer working days due to Easter and ANZAC Day public holidays may have capped last month’s volume from being even higher.

The result has been underpinned by high rates of weekly national slaughter since late February, including some of the biggest production weeks seen since the 2015 drought turnoff period.

Unless rates of production decline substantially during the back half of this year, it’s looking increasingly likely that Australia will hit another all-time beef export volume record in 2026.

Total volume to all export markets for first four months of the year has already reached 506,000t, up more than 67,000t or 15pc on last year – which generated the previous all-time calendar year record of 1.5mt.

Grainfed exports last month retracted a little in line with the broader trend since March, reaching 40,093t, up 8pc year-on-year but well short of the +50,000t month in March.

The United States continued to dominate export business last month, accounting for 41,174t in April, down only 869t or 2pc on March, but almost 11pc higher than April last year.

For the January-April calendar year to date, export to East and West Coast US ports have reached 146,956t, up 17,600t or 13.6pc on the same four months last year.

Exports to China were lower than what many anticipated, given the looming triggering of the Safeguard tariff under Australia’s 2026 quota of 220,000t.

If anything, trade has been more orderly than what many anticipated at the start of the year when the new quota was imposed, with some forecasts for the quota being filled now suggesting late July or August.

April shipments to China reached 29,583t, some 3300t or 10pc below the previous month, and well shy of earlier predictions that monthly volume might soar past 40,00t as the race to get product in before the quota filled gathered pace.

Calendar year to date, Australia has now consigned 106,145t to China, a rise of 29,500t or 38pc on the same period last year. That DAFF number suggests Australia has not yet filled 50pc of its 2026 quota entitlement, however there is some lag factor between DAFF and China’s GACC records.

In other key North Asian export markets, both Japan and South Korea operated strongly in April.

Japan accounted for 20,504t in April, with the tail end of buying for the busy Golden Week Celebrations starting 29 April. Much of the Golden Week beef buying was done in March, when shipments hit 23,861t, representing a 14pc decline last month. Currency movement against the Japanese Yen in April didn’t help.

Last month’s shipments to Japan were down 940t or 4pc from April last year.

After a huge month in March when it took a near-record 25,543t, Korean demand softened a little last month, to 22,365t – but still very high, by historical standards, in the face of very tight US beef export availability. Year to date, Korea has taken 79,518t of Australian beef, up 14,700t, up almost 23pc on the same period last year.

In southern Asia, trade into Indonesia – traditionally Australia’s fifth largest beef market – continues to struggle under import permit challenges. April exports reached only 3750t – barely half the volume seen this time last year – while year-to-date trade to the end of April sits at 8738t, more than 9000t behind last year.

In emerging markets, Canada continues to shine as a relatively recent destination for Australian beef. April trade hit 4744t, up another 1422t year-on-year.

Calendar year to date trade has reached 15,700t, up another 33pc on last year.

As farmer resistance to the arrival of more Australian beef in the United Kingdom starts to wane, volumes have steadily grown. April trade reached 2709t,  compared with just 906t this time last year. Year to date trade has reached 7277t, almost three times higher than trade in the first four months of 2025.

The Iran conflict and its regional impact has had surprisingly little impact so far on beef trade into the Middle East region, where the collection of customer countries accounted for 3022t last month – virtually identical to April last year. Year to date the number is 10,143t, only marginally down on last year.