BEEF exports departing Australia through the Port of Brisbane reached an all-time record last calendar year, based on data released by the port authority recently.

Total beef exports last year reached 716,929 tonnes, easily the highest figure ever to pass through the facility.

The number was up 5.5 percent on the previous 2012 calendar year, and continued a gradual four-year increase in volumes.

Back in 2010, Port of Brisbane accounted for 658,000t, about 8pc below the most recent trading year.

The heavy slaughter year caused by drought across wide expanses of Eastern Australia was also reflected in the number of TEUs (refrigerated standard containers) used in the beef trade.

Last year, exporters and stevedores shifted more than 52,000 TEUs through the port in chilled and frozen beef export, almost 3400 more than the previous year.

The impact of drought on the cattle slaughter complex, especially in greatly elevated cow kill, was also clearly evident in the proportions of chilled versus frozen exports passing through the port.

Last year, chilled beef exports barely passed 24 pc of the total, while for the three previous years, the figure was well above 29pc.    

Port of Brisbane continues to dominate the export trade in beef out of Australia, responsible for almost 66 percent of the nation’s total beef exports of 1.09 million tonnes in 2013.