Australia: Don't ditch your sheep yards just yet, live export industry observers say

The live sheep export industry is not about to go quietly into the night, with industry representatives saying even if the ban of the trade by sea comes into effect, companies will be ready to return if it is overthrown with a change in government. The main issue in that case would be whether Western Australia's sheep supply remained sufficient. Australian Livestock Exporters Council CEO Mark Harvey-Sutton said international markets were "quite mystified" by the ban, off the back of major industry reform. However, he said Middle Eastern markets remained keen to make sure the trade continued. "While they will obviously look at other markets around supply ... their preference solely remains for Australian animals and they're keen to keep trading for as long as possible," he said. He said the Middle East was already a huge importer of chilled and frozen sheep meat, sowas dismissing the notion the region could transition further to a chilled product because their consumers were ...