October beef export statistics to be released by DAFF in coming days are likely to show that Australia’s record pace of exports so far in 2013 is being sustained, with beef shipments for the month looking like being close to the highest on record for the month.

However Meat & Livestock Australia said it should be noted that the pace of exports is largely due to the increased flow of stock into processing plants.

For cattle producers, the ample flow of stock is still due to the drought conditions throughout the majority of Queensland and northern NSW – the region which holds the bulk of Australia’s cattle herd.

“This has driven additional cattle through processing plants for the past ten months, which has fortunately been matched by expanding export volumes to China, Korea and the Middle East,” MLA said in this morning’s weekly bulletin.

Bas on the expectation that October’s beef exports will come in at around 100,000t, it means that an additional 110,000t of beef – about 14pc – has been exported so far in 2013, compared with ther same period last year.

This equated to an additional 588,000 head of cattle, MLA’s report said.

In some rare positive news for northern Australian producers in 2013, the allocation of additional live cattle permits to Indonesia for the remainder of the year has kicked indicative live export prices higher in recent weeks – accentuated by the scramble to purchase northern cattle fitting specifications in the wake of the exceptionally tough season.

Livestock prices this week have been mixed, with the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator finishing yesterday at 294.25¢/kg.