Australian red meat exporters are expecting strong UK demand for their beef products over the summer.
Total year-on-year Australian beef imports to the UK were up 154.2% in the first two months of 2026 to 3,068 tonnes, with frozen shipments up 1,106% to 603 tonnes [HMRC/Trade Data Monitor], continuing the strong growth seen in 2025.
With domestic production across the UK and Ireland continuing to be tight and prices remaining elevated, demand for imported beef from outside the EU was expected to continue as the summer approached, said Richard Sanders, UK/EU country manager for Meat & Livestock Australia.
Australia is the largest non-EU importer of fresh beef to the UK, having commenced a free trade deal with Britain in 2023, and the third largest for frozen.
Demand for beef was set to increase in the run-up to the BBQ season and the football World Cup in June, Sanders added, while pointing to how Australian beef could help “fill the gaps” in supply. The disruption caused by the war in the Middle East could also open up more supply and demand opportunities in the UK and other countries, he told The Grocer.
Despite soaring farmgate prices in the UK and Ireland, demand was “still strong and growing” for beef, particularly for steak cuts and burgers, he said.
“That’s going to put a lot of pressure on food service supply and retail, and supermarkets are quietly acknowledging they can’t really rely on the local beef supply all year round.”
Following a number of supermarket listings for Australian beef in 2025, UK retailers were now “more open than in the past to non-EU sourcing, including Australia”, he added.
And given the shortfalls in domestic supply, he noted “that meat needs to come from somewhere”.
Australia “was not trying to take over the market. We’re trying to fill the gaps and support where we can,” Sanders stressed. “We’ve had 150 years of working between the two countries supplying in the off season.”
Sanders’ comments come as the Co-op this week raised concerns over the fragility of the British food supply chain, citing HMRC data that showed value imports of meat and poultry jumped by 15% to £5bn last year.
Co-op, which only sells and uses 100% British meat and poultry, said the data highlighted Britain’s increasing reliance on international supply chains for imported meats, which were at risk of weather challenges and global supply issues.
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