AUSTRALIA will continue to miss out on sending more lamb to the European Union, despite competitors not filling quotas.
According to figures compiled by the European Commissions taxation and customs, Australian lamb exporters took up 99 per cent of their EU sheep meat quota last year.
End of year figures show Australia sent 19,025 tonnes of sheep meat, falling just short of the 19,186 tonnes we are allowed to send to the EU.
That's in direct contrast to rival exporters, with some only able to fill as little as 18 per cent of available quotas.
Falling lamb production in New Zealand contributed to its failure to fill its 227,854 tonne allocation, with exporters filling 80 per cent of the the country's allowance.
It was the second year in a row New Zealand exporters have failed to fill their EU quota.
Meat and Livestock Australia sheepmeat analyst Robert Barker said Australia would not be able to pick up the slack.
"At the moment, the current quota regimen provides no mechanism to transfer quotas between countries," he said.
Australian producers have long harboured a desire for a bigger share of the EU market, which pays high prices for lamb.
The inability of New Zealand to fill its share last year has been blamed on a number of factors, principally a snow storm in the spring of 2010, which is estimated to have wiped out one million lambs.
At least some of these lambs would have been destined for the EU market last year.
There have been small increases in the Australian quota, with a 400 tonne lift late last year. This rise was also applied to the New Zealand quota.
Argentina could only fill 18 per cent of its 23,000-tonne quota. Chile and Uruguay filled 80-86 per cent of their 6000 tonne allocations.
