AUSTRALIA INVASION OF USA MARKETS?

Australia is set to boost its livestock exports to Mexico, starting with a shipment of 20,000 sheep to the Mexican state of Hidalgo. Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry Peter McGauran said the pregnant Australian ewes would help lift the production of lamb meat in Hidalgo.

“The shipment will significantly benefit sheep producers in Western Australia, where the majority of sheep will come from, and also those in Victoria and South Australia,” McGauran said. “The increased interest in our livestock is a major outcome of a Letter of Friendship and Cooperation in Agriculture and Livestock, signed in 2003 by former Australian Agriculture Minister Warren Truss, and the then Hidalgo Governor Manuel Angel Nuñez Soto. The Letter outlined Hidalgo’s interest in boosting its sheep stocks, and the important part Australian exports could play in that process.”

Minister McGauran said Mexico had the potential to become a significant market for Australia’s high-quality meat and livestock.

“Hopefully, the Hidalgo deal represents the start of a long-standing relationship between Australian livestock exporters and Mexico,” he commented. “There has already been interest in Mexico for further imports of Australian sheep, as well as our dairy and beef cattle.”
Prior to 2002, Australia exported A$85 million worth of livestock to Mexico.

McGauran hopes that future exports will exceed this mark. Mexico is also a significant market for Australian sheep meat exports, particularly for low value cuts.