22/05/2025
Fast facts:
Australia’s total livestock exports decreased 12% in 2024, year on year, to 1,168,281 head – valued at $911 million. Cattle volumes were up 16% and sheep volumes were down 37% compared to 2023*.
The annual mortality rates for exports by sea and air in 2024 were 0.12% for sheep (the lowest on record, down from 0.18% the previous year) and 0.06% for cattle. More than 50% of cattle voyages had zero mortalities in 2024.
There were 296 consignments of cattle and 16 consignments of sheep exported by sea in 2024.
The average length of livestock export voyages in 2024 was 8.2 days to South East Asia, 19.7 days to North Asia, and 21.3 days to the Middle East.
Data collected daily on livestock export ships shows that cattle and sheep adjust quickly to the shipboard environment, showing neutral/positive demeanour after the first day of the voyage.
More than 60% of the 28,697 livestock exported by air in 2024, departed from Sydney airport.
Mortality rates for live sheep exported by sea set a record low in 2024, more than half of cattle shipped from Australia left from the Northern Territory, and air exports included the first Australian cattle sent to Botswana.
These are just some of the statistics from 2024 included in the State of the Industry report released today by the livestock export research and development corporation, LiveCorp.
LiveCorp CEO Wayne Collier said this is the second report produced to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for information about Australia’s livestock exports in an easy-to-read format.
“Long-running community sentiment surveys have demonstrated both a lack of knowledge of, and a desire to be more informed about, the industry,” Mr Collier said.
“The State of the Industry report is designed to provide facts and figures that answer common questions, as well as details on key research and other activities in areas such as animal welfare.”
The report shows that Darwin was the most active port for cattle in 2024, handling 49.8% of total cattle exports as demand from Indonesia surged (up 47%, year-on-year).
Fremantle hosted the most diverse shipments, with livestock destined for Indonesia, Vietnam and China as well as the Middle East. Saudi Arabia imported 104,000 sheep in 2024, becoming the third largest market in its first full year of activity after more than a decade.
Air exports make up a small but important part of the trade, at 3% of the total in 2024. Among the cattle, sheep and goats sent by air, the industry sent several shipments of cattle to Botswana to improve the genetics of its breeding herd.
Mr Collier said that, while mortality is not a perfect measure of performance, it remains the primary measure used by the regulator as it is absolute, objective and comparable over time.
“Mortality rates for both sheep and cattle have been trending down in recent years, with sheep reaching a record low of 0.12% in 2024. This is comparable to the performance of sheep farms, when converted to a daily rate.”
The industry also has a strong focus on understanding animal welfare and knows this is important to the Australian community. Observations are collected every day by the stockpersons looking after the livestock on ships, and multiple research projects are underway.
“Shipboard data clearly shows the majority of both sheep and cattle adapt quickly to their new surroundings after being loaded, and remain settled through to discharge,” Mr Collier said.
“It has also identified that, while there are not a lot of injuries and illness, one of the common causes for health treatments is leg injuries. To address this, trials were conducted in 2024 by installing rubber matting in feedlots and on loading ramps as well as on ships, with the added traction successfully reducing the risk of cattle and sheep losing their footing.
“Pioneering research also began in 2024 to create a system capable of better interpreting the shipboard data and providing insights to help inform real-time decision-making to improve welfare outcomes."
The State of the Industry report for the 2024 calendar year is available here.
* Volume and value data is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The remaining dot points are sourced from LIVEXCollect, the platform approved by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for reporting data from pre-export quarantine yards, sea voyages and air exports.