BEEF production in Australia fell 2.6% in the first three months of the year and was 6.3% down on a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Statistics.
Beef production came in at 497,306 tonnes for the quarter, while 1.83 million cattle, excluding calves, were slaughtered, which was down 2.7% on the previous three months and 7.6% over the year
Live cattle exports fell 22% to 204,000, while live sheep exports were down 31% to 714,000, according to the ABS figures.
Australia exports two-thirds of its beef production to the major markets of Japan, the U.S., South Korea and Southeast Asian nations, with the level of exports closely tied to production. It is the world's second largest beef exporter after Brazil.
