Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Beef exports from Australia, the world's biggest seller of the meat, expanded at the slowest pace in six months in October as supplies of grass-fed cattle dwindled, cutting sales to the U.S.

Beef shipments rose 4.1 percent to 83,711 metric tons last month from a year earlier, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in Canberra said on its Web site. That's the slowest year-on-year increase since April.

Ranchers are slowing cattle sales to rebuild herds that fell last year because of the country's worst drought in a century. That reduced Australia's ability to meet increased demand from Japan and South Korea, which were among more than 40 countries to ban U.S. beef in December after the discovery of one case of mad cow disease in a Washington state herd.

``We're short of cattle, everyone's short,'' said Will Abel Smith, livestock manager at S. Kidman & Co., which is raising 190,000 cattle, mostly for export markets. ``We're still in rebuild-mode after the drought,'' which reduced the Adelaide- based company's herd by 30,000 head.

Forced sales last year reduced the number of cattle Abel Smith has available and may cause livestock sales to slump 30 percent this year from a year earlier, he said.

Tight Supply

Tighter cattle supplies pushed prices on the benchmark Eastern Market Indicator to a record A$3.98 a kilogram on Sept. 15. They rose 1.8 cents, or 0.5 percent, to A$3.683 today and have gained a 10th in the past year, helped by export sales that surged 28 percent to A$3.34 billion ($2.5 billion) in the nine months ended Sept. 30.

Australia's October beef sales to Japan, the most valuable overseas market for the country's meat, rose 24 percent from a year earlier to 35,610 tons. Exports to South Korea jumped 26 percent to 6,385 tons.

Exports to the North Asian countries may slide once U.S. beef sales there resume, Abel Smith said. That may take some months, he said.

Shipments to the U.S., the biggest buyer of Australian beef by volume, fell 3.1 percent to 35,591 last month.

``While supplies of grain-fed cattle from feedlots are still relatively high, the amount of grass-fed beef available is much lower than you would expect for this time of the year,'' said Peter Weeks, chief market analyst with Sydney-based Meat & Livestock Australia, in an interview.

Only Brazil exports a greater volume of beef and beef products than Australia, though Australia's were more valuable in 2003.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 2, 2004 00:31 EST