AUSTRALIA might be the world’s largest exporter of sheep meat, but it is still a poor second in production to China, which produces more than three times our nation’s lamb and mutton output.

These and other industry facts are contained in Meat & Livestock Australia’s recently released Sheep Industry Fast Facts 2016, which provides producers and stakeholders with a snapshot of the latest industry data, including flock size, exports, production, consumption and Australia’s position relative to other countries.

The off-farm meat value — domestic expenditure plus export value — of the Australian sheep meat industry was about $4.83 billion in 2015-16 – up 2 percent on the 2014-15 period, MLA estimates.

Other 2015-16 industry highlights for 2015-16 were the export of just over 241,900 tonnes of lamb and 147,800 tonnes of mutton. This was from production of 516,366 tonnes of lamb and 196,040 tonnes of mutton.

Australia exported 56pc of its lamb production and 91pc of mutton produced in the last financial year. And Australians each ate about 9.5kg of lamb and 0.7kg of mutton per person during the year, to be among the highest sheep meat consumers in the world, according to MLA.

To access the latest sheep industry fast facts, click here.