The voluntary suspension of exports followed the refusal by Bahrain quarantine officials to accept a load of 20,000 Australian sheep allegedly infected with scabby mouth in August 2012. The sheep were shipped to Pakistan and destroyed in a slaughter that was broadcast on national Australian television, causing an outcry.
Last year’s export figures from industry body Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) showed that no live sheep were exported to Bahrain in 2013, a major blow to an industry, which exported around 250,000 head to the country from January to August 2012 before the suspension, and nearly 500,000 in 2010. However, MLA officials said they were "confident" the Bahrain market would be re-opened soon.
Offsetting the Bahrain figures was not the only Middle East challenge for Australian sheep exporters last year, who also faced a dramatic decline in the traditionally strong markets of Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
No Australian sheep were exported to Saudi Arabia in 2013, a significant decrease from 69,000 head in the period from January to November 2012 and a huge drop from the 262,500 that were exported there in 2010.
The declining national flock and subsequent price pressure have no doubt had an impact, as MLA analysis suggests, but exporters say Australia’s Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) has also had played a determining role.
The ESCAS was implemented by Australia in response to public concern over the welfare and slaughter condition of Australian animals exported to other countries, following several widely-publicised instances of substandard treatment and slaughter.
The scheme obliges Australian exporters to track animals throughout the supply chain to the point of slaughter although, in the case of Saudi Arabia, some importers appear to have found the process too onerous, and have sourced their live sheep elsewhere.
Meanwhile Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan remain buoyant markets, importing 679,496, 477,865 and 287,792 Australian sheep respectively in the first nine months of last year, which totalled 87% of total live sheep exports from Australia.