Queensland supplied more cattle for live export than any other state or territory during February, latest monthly live export shipping figures show.

Queensland accounted for 35 percent of all cattle exported from Australia during the month, with the Northern Territory accounting for 31.2pc of exports and Western Australia 24.4pc.

NT and WA typically dominate monthly export volumes, but seasonal and demand circumstances resulted in more cattle than usual from north western Queensland being diverted to the northern boat trade during the 2013-14 summer.

Most of the Top End and northern WA enjoyed typical wet season conditions in February, limiting road access and preventing any thoughts of early starts to first round musters, while at the same time drought continued to force producers in north western Queensland to turn cattle off.

The return of high-volume cattle import orders from Indonesia and other South East Asian markets provided a crucial destocking outlet when no other avenues existed, and at relatively good prices of $1.80 ex Townsville and $2.30 ex Darwin.

Townsville ranked as the biggest port of export for cattle for the month of February, with 26,139 cattle shipped during the month, just ahead of Darwin which shipped 24,257 cattle, many of which were also Queensland cattle. Fremantle was the third largest export port in February, shipping 16,885.

MLA’s latest LiveLink report shows that Australia exported 38,400 cattle to Indonesia in February. The other main export destinations for the month were Vietnam (14,942), Israel (12,200), China (6200 dairy cattle and beef breeding cattle) and the Philippines (2300).

Exports to Indonesia for the financial year to date (since July 1, 2013) now total 335,492, up by 130pc on the 145,891 exported in the same period of the previous year. 84,249 cattle have been shipped to Vietnam in the same period, up from just 5786 the previous year.