Driven squarely by business being written into the United States, Australia’s monthly beef exports for October have re-written the record books, hitting an unprecedented 130,048 tonnes.

The monthly volume was a bare 50 tonnes or 0.04pc higher than the previous record set back in July this year, and considerably larger than previous highs set back in 2015 during periods of drought cattle turnoff.

Calendar year-to-date figures have also produced a new record high for accumulated Australian beef exports, reaching an incredible 1.097 million tonnes, with two months of trade remaining for the full year.

For comparison, the January-October export trade volume last year reached 881,880t, representing a massive 215,000t advance this year, up 24.4pc.

The year-to-date trade volume suggests Australian beef exports will easily challenge the full-year record of 1.23 million tonnes, when full-year data is released next January. That’s looking particularly likely, as weekly slaughter volumes have shown a noticeable increase since mid-October, now frequently above 142,000 head according to NLRS national weekly slaughter data.

US headlines performance

As has been the case throughout the back half of 2024, exports into the United States have headlined the nation’s recent beef export trade surge.

Despite earlier challenges surrounding US port disruptions due to waterside strike action, Australia’s exports to the US east and west coast ports during October hit a blistering 45,338t.

That’s the second highest monthly tally on record, exceeded only by a massive +47,000t volume exported in September 2014, when the US industry was in its previous herds rebuilding cycle following drought.

There’s some evidence of skewing towards manufacturing beef into the US as the nation’s herd rebuilding commences, with Australia’s frozen shipments in October accounting for 33,700t of all consignments, representing 75pc of the total.

October trade into the US was up more than 8000t or 22pc on September, and a dramatic 17,700t or 64pc higher than October last year.

For October, the US accounted for almost 35pc of Australia’s total export activity – the highest monthly proportion seen since 2015.

For the 2024 calendar year to date, US trade has reached a colossal 317,532t, a rise of almost 127,000t or 66pc on the same ten months last year.

With Republican Donald Trump being reelected to the US presidency, trade watchers are concerned that he may revert to previous protectionist tactics and re-impose tariffs on Australian beef exports, despite the existence of a Free Trade Agreement.