No live export vessels are scheduled to take sheep from Australia to the Middle East for the rest of 2025, raising speculation an unofficial end to the trade could come ahead of a legislated ban in 2028.

The three-month northern summer moratorium on live sheep exports to the Middle East ended last weekend, a milestone normally marked by a flurry of activity at Fremantle Port, with sheep ships docked and ready to take on animals.

But this year is very different.

WA Livestock Exporters' Association chair John Cunnington said not one livestock vessel is confirmed to return to Australia between now and the end of the year.

He pointed to "unprecedented circumstances" in the market, including high sheep prices and Western Australia's shrinking sheep flock.

"It doesn't mean they won't come,

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