The first shipment of live cattle from Darwin to Vietnam left East Arm this week in what is expected to be another slow year for trade to the South-East Asian country.
The number of cattle exported from Australia to Vietnam almost halved in 2021 to 160,000 — down from almost 300,000 in 2020.
This year is expected to be much the same, if not smaller, according to live exporters and industry experts.
Just 5,500 head of cattle have left Australian ports for Vietnam since January, down from around 45,000 head in the same period in 2021.
Frontier International's Tony Gooden said demand for cattle from Vietnam had been "stagnant" for some time, largely driven by COVID lockdowns in the country last year.
"At the time that came about, there was quite a big inventory of Australian cattle in Vietnam [that had been imported through June to September] and, on top of that, there was also the ship that came from Brazil," he said.
"And [there was also] a lot of cattle from Laos and Cambodia, which would normally go through to China but, due to COVID, China locked down that grey trade very quickly.
"Consequently there was an oversupply of not only Australian cattle and some Brazilian cattle, but a lot of South-East Asian cattle trapped in Vietnam."
Continued high cattle prices in Australia would affect the number of cattle Vietnamese importers would be able to buy this year, Mr Gooden said.
"My feeling is that there will be some shipments to Vietnam but the volumes will be very low compared to the past two or three years," he said.
Mr Gooden said it was likely there would be more Brazilian cattle sent to Vietnam this year.
"It wouldn't surprise me if there were another two or three shipments this year," he said.
"That will mean fewer cattle from Australia because they only need so many cattle in Vietnam."
Live export price indicator launched
The first price indicator for the live export trade was launched by Meat and Livestock Australia this week.
The Live Export Price Indicator (LEPI) will track the average sale price of male feeder cattle purchased by exporters for shipment from Darwin to Indonesia.
It will be updated every Tuesday, covering the relevant cattle exported over the previous fortnight.
This week, the LEPI was $4.98 per kilogram with 5,170 head of male feeder cattle exported to Indonesia from Darwin over the reporting period.
NT Livestock Exporters Association chief executive Tom Dawkins said there had been a lot of input from the industry into developing the indicator over the past 12 months.
"Everyone in the supply chain, from the station gate through to our customers in Indonesia, supports timely and reliable market price reporting," Mr Dawkins said.
"Accurate market reporting is very much in the exporters' interest, given they are actively buying and selling cattle on a daily basis and maintain relationships with producers here in Australia and importers in Indonesia."
