Australian live cattle exporters are hopeful of the imminent release of second-trimester import permits for Indonesia, with Vietnam proving a tough market to sell stock.
Indonesia issued 200,000 import permits for the first four months of the year and previous indications reveal the second trimester may hold a similar or slightly higher quota.
Now the first week of May, further shipments depend on the release of those permits.
While the high demand from Vietnamese buyers has provided a strong secondary market in the past, very few cattle are being sold there currently.
Stuart Kemp from the Northern Territory Livestock Exporters Association said permits might be released by the Indonesian Government later this week.
"It would be nice to see orders being placed against permits this week," he said.
"Then perhaps the stock could be going on to vessels by the end of next week, or thereabouts."
Mr Kemp said Vietnam was a 'green' market and exports weren't able to rely on it to sell cattle due to the market filling.
"This is a market that started off as a process-ready market, taking bigger and heavier cattle, and then it's evolved into a feeder market.
"The demand was high - they bought a lot of cattle - they are still in feedlots, and they'll take a while to get through the system.
"That demand has backed off and we've seen relatively few cattle going into Vietnam this year."
With shipments slowing and mustering beginning in the Northern Territory, Mr Kemp said prices for cattle were falling below $3 per kilogram.
"I can't see it going up in the short term," he said.
"Offers out for cattle at the moment are below that $3, but just where they are, I'm not sure.
"It's a fairly dynamic situation and constantly changing."
