Pressure on market creates erratic patterns

Sheep prices are ranging from firm to dearer, reflecting the fluctuating trend. Our expert analysis looks at the erratic price results being recorded for lamb and mutton.

Point taken: There was a mixed bag of results recorded at saleyards this week. Picture: Chloe Smith

ERRATIC  price  results were recorded for lamb and mutton in the past week as the market comes under pressure from bigger supplies in the south and mixed quality as the season progresses.

Hamilton in the Western District is now in its peak selling period, yarding nearly 34,000 lambs earlier this week, with a bigger yarding anticipated for today.

Prices at Hamilton this week were quoted as $5 to $10 easier by the National Livestock Reporting Service, which noted bidding became “erratic’’ as the auction progressed.

However, on the same day at Bendigo, the best heavy lambs weighing over 26kg carcass weight were chased harder by exporters and were listed as $5 to $15 dearer, with export shorn lambs reaching $249.

And showing the unstable pattern, prices further north at Corowa in southern NSW were quoted as firm to slightly dearer. At Dubbo in central NSW there were dearer rates reported for the best trade and heavy lambs.

The overall outcome from this mix of results was little change to saleyard indicator prices.

At the close of selling on Monday night heavy lambs were listed at 752c/kg cwt for a mild 2 cent improvement, while tradeweight lambs were at 762c/kg.

Merino lambs were quoted at 710c/kg by Meat and Livestock Australia which collects the saleyard data.

In dollar per head terms most heavy sucker and shorn lambs over 26kg are selling from $200 to $235, with just isolated sales of extra heavy types higher.

The peak at Bendigo was $249 for shorn lambs estimated up around 34kg cwt, and the top three dollar per head sales at this market were for shorn lambs. The best heavy trade lambs sold for mostly $180 to $200, with the general run of mixed domestic lambs from $158 to $175 to processors.

The mutton market was also erratic this week. While there were still some impressive results for heavy sheep at Bendigo, a lack of processor competition on plainer and light mutton resulted in price falls of up to $30 late in the auction.

Other markets also reported mixed trends on the same day, with the general result being a slight downward trend for mutton as processors back away from the very high rates of spring.

The saleyard indicator for mutton was on 636c/kg cwt earlier this week. But an analysis of data from individual saleyards shows a big spread of anything from 550c/kg to over 700c/kg for sheep depending on weight and quality.

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