Despite the tough times beef producers up north are experiencing, Australia's beef industry overall is poised for a good year.
According to weeklytimesnow, Ben Thomas, senior beef market analyst from Meat and Livestock Australia, announced earlier this week that last year's beef exports of 963,000t would be beaten this year, with this industry on track to surpass one million tonnes.
A key factor in hitting this figure will be an order placed by Russia, after Brazil was unable to fill supplies.
The weakening of the Australian dollar is also helping, Thomas said.
"Those record volumes last year were on the back of an average Aussie dollar of US103 cents, and now we have a positive outlook for the Australian dollar over the next nine months of about US80 cents," he said.
Japan, South Korea and the USA are the three biggest markets for Australian beef, but China is becoming increasingly important, importing 32,000t last year and 115,000t expected this year.