How the Israel-Hamas conflict could impact live export trade

Since Palestinian militant group Hamas' surprise offensive on October 7, Israeli forces have retaliated by putting the Gaza Strip under total siege.

According to Meat & Livestock Australia data, in the year to August, Israel took 122,300 head of live sheep from Australia, 19 per cent of the overall trade for the year, and 114pc up on the previous year.

Israel also imported 48,803 head of cattle, working out at about 7pc of overall live cattle export volumes.

Australia's livestock exports into Israel go into the Port of Eilat in the Red Sea.

RaboResearch Australia New Zealand general manager Stefan Vogel said one of the most tangible impacts of the conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip for Australian agriculture would be in the live sheep trade.

"Israel is an important buyer of live sheep from Australia, accounting for around 14 per cent of the trade," he said.

"There will be implications for Australian farmers if the war continues."

Australia Livestock Exporters Council CEO Mark Harvey-Sutton said exporters had been keeping a close eye on the situation and had processes if things were to escalate.

"Israel remains an important market for cattle and sheep," he said.

"Obviously the situation is quite fluid and I've been talking to exporters about that.

"The one thing that hasn't been impacted yet is demand, which is good.

"At the moment we see it as business as usual, noting that Israel is quite a big country and their food security needs don't change.

"The one thing we would need to be cognisant of is ensuring the safety of people and also the welfare of the animals in that environment."

Mr Harvey-Sutton said exporters and their customers were making sure all assurances were in place and risks were being assessed.

"I know there are shipments being planned over the coming weeks... exporters are obviously watching the situation closely and making sure parameters are in place," he said.

"Everyone is very aware and cautious, it's still appropriate that we ship there provided that the measures are there both from a regulatory and commercial perspective."

Mr Harvey-Sutton said since the outbreak of the conflict, the Department of Agriculture had withdrawn independent observers from livestock vessels to the Middle East.

Episode 3 market analyst Matt Dalgleish said how things played out would depend on if the conflict extended beyond Gaza.

"There's been a few little skirmishes across the border into Lebanon with Hezbollah, which is not uncommon... if that was to escalate further into some type of ground offensive where Hezbollah attacks into Israel and Israel are fighting on multiple fronts in terms of skirmishes that makes it a bit trickier," he said.

"If the conflict is limited to that one little spot in the occupied territories, the rest of Israel are obviously getting rocket attacks too but that might subside too if they can get Gaza under control.

"Once they roll the troops in it could be a relatively quick conflict if they get in and do what they need to do in terms of neutralising Hamas.

"If it's an extended conflict or the conflict widens then that has more serious implications for the live sheep trade.

"But there have been historic wars in Israel that have only lasted a handful of days or a matter of weeks."