Australia has reached 90% of its annual beef export quota to South Korea, putting the country's safeguard mechanism on track to be triggered during July and exposing Australian beef to significantly higher tariffs.
According to Beef Central, Australia has already utilized about 177,000 tons of its 196,000-ton quota for 2026. Once the quota is exhausted, the tariff on Australian beef entering South Korea will increase from 5.3% to 24% for the remainder of the year.
At the current export pace, the quota is expected to be filled about six weeks earlier than in 2025. In previous years, the safeguard was triggered in mid-September (2025), late October (2024) and early December (2023).
The development comes just two weeks after Australian beef exports to China became subject to an additional 55% tariff following the exhaustion of Australia's 205,000-ton safeguard quota for that market.
In both destinations, robust Australian beef production is coinciding with constrained US export supplies as the American cattle herd remains at its lowest level in more than 70 years.
Trade sources told Beef Central that the combined impact of the Chinese and South Korean safeguard tariffs has yet to be fully reflected in the export market, but warned that the effect on demand and export prices is expected to be negative.
