2022 winners and placegetters in the Australian sheep meat export sector

Mutton exports were similar to lamb, growing by 2pc for the year to 144,005 tonnes.

The main difference in mutton being that exports to the five largest markets fell by 4pc, mostly due to US exports falling by 23pc, while other exports rose by 25pc, representing a major diversification of export markets.

So, which countries placed highly in the export race?

Australian lamb export volumes for December 2022 finished the year ahead of the five-year trend, albeit marginally, according to Market Analyst, Matt Dalgleish.

"Underpinning the growth in lamb exports was exceptionally strong demand for Aussie lamb from the USA."

"2022 saw 75,011 tonnes swt exported to America from Australia, 6pc higher than the volumes set in 2021 and 24pc above the five-year annual average volumes.

"The USA cemented their position as top export destination for Aussie lamb accounting for 26.4pc of the trade in 2022," Mr Dalgleish said.

China took out second place in terms of export lamb market share with 18.3pc of the lamb export volumes, representing 52,151 tonnes swt in 2022.

Lamb export volumes to China were 17pc lower than the flows seen in 2021 and nearly 13pc under the five-year average pattern.

According to MLA, the US and China markets represent huge opportunities in the future, as lamb consumption is still relatively low, especially in the US.

Diversity of export locations increased with Papua New Guinea moving into third place, claiming a market share of Australian lamb lifting from 4.9pc in 2021 to 7.7pc in 2022.

"There was 21,900 tonnes swt of Aussie lamb exported to PNG over the 2022 season, representing a 68pc increase on volumes seen in 2021 and an impressive 97pc lift on the annual average volumes exported over the last five years," Mr Dalgleish said.

United Arab Emirates also featured in the top five export markets, with smaller markets like Fiji, Switzerland and Ghana recording lamb export increases of 15pc, slowly getting a taste for Aussie lamb.

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Mutton exports were similar to lamb, growing by 2pc for the year to 144,005 tonnes.

The top five markets still account for more than 75pc of Australia's exports, but growth in varied markets could make Australian exports more resilient to external shocks in the future.

According to Mr Dalgleish, compared to the annual average volumes over the last five-years the current mutton export volumes are 9pc under trend.

"As has been the case for the last three years China took around 40pc of Australian mutton exports at around 57,000 tonnes swt," he said.

"While this was a pretty solid result it is a far cry from the 81,000 tonnes China took in 2019 when they were in the depth of their pig herd decimation due to African Swine Fever and were chasing meat protein from all available sources around the globe to fill their protein void."

The USA lost second place to Malaysia who picked up 12.5pc of the Australian mutton export trade in 2022, or around 18,046 tonnes swt.

Mutton exports to Malaysia in 2022 were nearly 11pc above the annual average volumes shipped over the last five years.

USA slipped from second to third place in terms of market share of Aussie mutton exports, showing a far greater appetite for lamb.

Americans consumed 17,555 tonnes of Aussie mutton, or 12.2pc of the total Australian mutton exported in 2022.

This was a 23pc decline on the record volumes seen in 2021 when nearly 23,000 tonnes of Aussie mutton made its way to America.

Singapore and Saudi Arabia came in at fourth and fifth place 5.2pc and 4.2pc respectively.

Looking ahead

MLA commentators note an interesting trend in the shift in storage modes, with chilled exports making up the smallest share of exports since 2015.

As supply chains' reliability has improved over the past six months and is expected to continue to improve, we can expect that percentage to begin rising, which is likely to support higher values in red meat exports.