Sheep market fluctuates early

After a rocky start to the year, lamb prices have rallied – benefiting from limited saleyard supply. Here’s the latest on sheep and lamb indicators, yardings and slaughter.

Prices

The sheep and lamb markets have had a tumultuous start to 2019 in terms of both saleyard throughput and prices. The National Trade Lamb Indicator opened in line with where it ended 2018 before easing 14¢/kg carcase weight (cwt) through the first 2 weeks of 2019. Over the last fortnight however, lambs have found some more support with prices rising back to its opening price of 671¢/kg cwt on Tuesday (29 January).

The outlook for a hot, dry start to 2019 has seen restockers operating with little confidence, culminating in the restocker lambs (0–18kg cwt) operating at a 25¢ discount to the trade weight lambs (18.1–22kg cwt) after opening the year at a 27¢ premium.

The mutton indicator has seen similar price movements, opening firm to last year before seeing a 57¢/kg fluctuation finish January where it started at 406¢/kg cwt.

Yardings

Through the first four weeks of 2019, lamb yardings have been down significantly, nearly 200,000 head or 25% on the same period last year. The main reductions have been in WA, Victoria and NSW, down 42%, 37% and 17% from 2018 respectively. The overly hot weather across major supply areas has had an impact, as saleyards in some areas have been encouraging producers to only send animals if absolutely necessary.

Sheep yardings, however, have been very similar in January 2019 to the level they were in 2018, with only a small decrease of 1%. Most states have been relatively stable, with the exception of a 21% drop in WA across the first four weeks of the year that was offset by a 70% increase in SA.

Slaughter

Eastern states weekly lamb slaughter so far in 2019 has remained fairly consistent with 2018 numbers, up 4% to 1.39 million head over the first four weeks. This slight increase, despite the lack of saleyard throughput, highlights the limited activity from restocker buyers.

Eastern states sheep slaughter has risen more noticeably so far in 2019, up 23% year-on-year. Increases have been seen across all states, but most notably from SA and Victoria (86% and 32% respectively), while NSW (5%) is also up year-on-year.

More information

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