Goatmeat industry insights now just a click away
11 June 2025
Australian goatmeat producers now have a go-to hub for the latest information on industry trends, including production, supply, processing, export trends and outcomes from the National Forecasting Committee meetings.
The new webpage, launched by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) in partnership with the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, offers quarterly reports from the Goat Data Collation and Tracking project.
As the industry awaits data to round out the 2024–25 financial year, here we review the year’s industry trends up to 31 March.
The trends
In 2023–24, the industry faced persistent lower prices, record-breaking slaughter total and growth in export markets. These trends have continued in 2024–25.
All-time processing records were broken in 2023–24, with 3.1 million goats processed nationally, including 933,000 in the fourth quarter (according to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's Levy slaughter data). Before the last quarter of 2023–24, no more than 800,000 goats had ever been slaughtered in a quarter.
The Forecasting Committee projected the slaughter totals achieved in late 2023–24 and early 2024–25 would be sustained throughout the current financial year, which has been the case to date. Processors slaughtered 2.9 million goats in the first three quarters of 2024–25, including more than 1 million goats in the third quarter.
Although the market has been resilient enough to absorb the large increases in supply, the combination of increased supply and current trade conditions have substantially reduced farmgate and export prices. From 1 July 2024 to 31 March 2025, the average over-the-hooks price was 282¢/ kg carcase weight (cwt), according to MLA's over-the-hooks reports, while the average export price was 690¢/kg cwt.
With high slaughter rates and producers hoping for higher returns, the industry is closely monitoring export market trends. When compared to the first three quarters of 2023-24, the first three quarters of 2024-25 have seen a 49% increase in goatmeat export volume (43,256 tonnes) and a 47% increase in goatmeat export value ($295 million).
This increase in export volume in 2024–25 was driven by a rise in imports among Australia's top five export destinations – the United States (40%), South Korea (27%), China (76%), Taiwan (55%) and Canada (130%).
Sustainable growth and development
The Goat Data Collation and Tracking project supports the sustainable growth and development of the goatmeat industry by providing reliable data and valuable insights. The information provided in this project is crucial to the industry's ability to anticipate and respond to challenges associated with fluctuating supply.
Producers can also join us for the project's first field day at Condobolin Agricultural Research and Advisory Station on 17 September 2025. See the research herd, hear the latest results firsthand, and connect with the team behind the work and others who share a passion for developing the goatmeat industry.
