While live sheep exports hit a low last year of just 2.458m head, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) is tipping a big jump in exports on the back of growth in the national flock.

MLA’s Robert Barker tipped live sheep exports would increase by 6pc this year alone to 2.6m head.

While Kuwait is expected to remain the largest single destination, with about one million head projected for 2012, sheep are also headed for Qatar and Bahrain (400,000 each) as well as Turkey and Jordan, although Oman is set to benefit from the largest increase of Australian sheep exports with 50,000 head, up 22pc from 2011 levels.

MLA’s sheep projections noted exports to Saudi Arabia – traditionally one of the largest markets for Australian live sheep – had been in decline for the past five years.

This comes as a result of competition from east African nations including Sudan and Somalia; as such, just one Australian shipment of 24,000 head left for Saudi Arabia in 2011.

MLA said implementation of the Export Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) set to be implemented from the start of March would play a key role in export volumes for 2012.