Airline Cargoes Filled With Meat as Gulf Route Transforms Trade
- Middle East is the most valuable market for Australian sheep
- Air freighted meat overtook sea freighted meat in 2018: MLA
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
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Passengers flying from Melbourne to the Gulf are almost certainly flying along with sheep carcasses down in the hold.
The strong demand for sheep meat in the Middle East means that the cargo space on passenger planes is now filled with fresh chilled lamb, hogget and mutton, according to a report by industry group Meat & Livestock Australia. With a value of A$476 million ($330 million) in 2018, the air trade between the areas overtook sea-freighted sheep meat for the first time.