Sheep live export banned from Australia to the Middle East during the northern summer next year

Livestock exporters will NOT be delivering sheep to the Middle East during the northern summer months next year.

Exporters told farmers today that abandoning trade from Australia to the Middle East for three months from June 1, 2019, would provide more security to farmers in the long-term.  

The industry has been under fire after images of distressed and overheated livestock being transported overseas via ship leaked into mainstream media.

It’s a blow to farmers with the northern summer trade of live sheep estimated to worth $55 million per year. A third of WA sheep are exported overseas.

The Australian Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC) chairman Simon Crean said the industry-imposed moratorium would provide a reset for the trade.

"This is about maintaining and growing a strong, viable, nine-month-a-year live sheep trade, and more broadly securing the future of Australia's livestock export industry," Mr Crean said

The Labor party had promised to ban live sheep export to the Middle East if it were elected next year.