Australian mutton exports in trouble

There are challenges ahead for Australia's mutton exports, as key markets struggle to manufacture pre-COVID-19 inventory with mutton consumption down.

There were only a handful of markets buying Australian mutton - the US, China and Malaysia. Smaller pockets of light sheep were commonly spread across South East Asia and the Middle East.

And then there were premium buying markets sprinkled across Europe, Japan and the Caribbeans, whose buying activity had become on hold as coronavirus dampened travellers' plans to visit the holiday destinations.

Mutton production was forecast to see an even sharper decline, contracting by 29pc from 227,000 tonnes cwt in 2019 to 161,000 tonnes cwt in 2020.