The Middle East is an important market for Australian live exports, particularly the live export of sheep. Sheep producers have relied on the live export trade for many years, and over time industry has seen the development of sheep breeds that specifically meet the needs of the Middle Eastern live sheep export market, such as the Awassi. The Awassi is a fat tail breed of sheep that originated from the northern Arabian Peninsula. It was first released for commercial production in Western Australia in 1993 and since that time over 2 million Awassi sheep have been exported to markets in the Middle East. A key strategy behind this expansion has been contracting Western Australian sheep producers to breed Awassi sheep. With the live sheep trade remaining strong, and demand outstripping supply, the live export industry represents a long term opportunity for producers. While the Awassi breeding flock is growing – along with sheep export numbers – the intention is not to replace merino sheep exports but to continually expand Awassi sheep exports, which is often a preferred breed in the Middle East. Australia has a world-wide reputation as a supplier of disease free, fit and healthy livestock. Australia has high quality pastures and space to raise livestock and one of the world’s best health statuses. The live sheep export industry is an important industry to Australia, providing a vital market for sheep producers to sell their livestock to and underpinning the domestic sheep production industry. The majority of sheep are exported from the port of Fremantle in Western Australia, with almost three quarters of Australian sheep exported from this port in 2009. Over 50% of sheep from the sheep production industry in Western Australia are exported live overseas, making the industry especially important to the Western Australian economy. Other ports that export live sheep include Portland and Port Adelaide. Australian sheep are exported to countries across the Middle East, primarily Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and the UAE. In 2009 over 3.5 million sheep were exported to these countries, with Kuwait taking 950,000 head and and Bahrain taking 747,000 head of sheep respectively. The number of sheep exported in 2009 represented a drop of 15% on the previous year, with demand for the live export of sheep far outstripping supply in the Australian sheep production industry last year. This has resulted in calls for the sheep farming industry to rebuild sheep flocks in the coming years. In 2009 the live export of sheep contributed A$323 million to the Australian economy. Australia also has a live cattle export industry and a live goat export industry, primarily exporting to countries throughout South East Asia. Indonesia is the primary market for the live cattle export industry, and Malaysia is the primary market for the live goat export industry. The live cattle export industry contributed A$662 million to the Australian economy in 2009, and the live goat export industry contributed A$11.5 million. The livestock export invests heavily in improving the welfare of sheep, cattle and goats throughout the livestock export industry.