Lamb prices steady amid saleyard numbers drop

The woes of the lamb industry have continued, but a slight drop in numbers at saleyards created a modest price rise. See the latest saleyard prices.

Lamb prices have firmed in early trading this week as saleyard numbers dropped away amid the wet weather and more producers opted to queue up stock direct to processors.

Gains have been modest, with the national indicators showing improvements of just 3c to 10c/kg carcass weight on Monday after coming off more price losses last week.

The stronger results have mainly been across the trade and light lamb categories due to buying support from mid-tier processors and wholesalers who don’t tend to buy as many lambs direct or on forward contracts.

Major exporters and supermarkets remain quiet, with agents telling The Weekly Times that kill space remains heavily booked until mid-August. Key heavy lamb and mutton buyer Fletchers of Dubbo, has shut for maintenance and will re-open mid-July.

The export price indicator for lambs over 30kg cwt was tracking at 523c/kg cwt on Monday, working out to $173 for a 33kg lamb.

The top price at Bendigo on Monday was $200 for an extra heavy-fed pen estimated at around 36kg cwt. It was the only sale to crack $200, and the average quoted by the NLRS was 540c/kg on a limited run of extra heavy lambs.

The overall saleyard average for big lambs was dragged lower by some cheaper interstate sales last week, including at Dubbo in NSW and Naracoorte in South Australia, where heavy lambs averaged under 480c/kg cwt, according to NLRS data.

At Dubbo on Monday this week, the 524 lambs which weighed above 30kg were still pegged at 480c/kg, working out to $165 per head.

Carcass rates have improved on some of the best trade and heavy trade lambs.

A key example of this was Dubbo on Monday, where the main run of 24-26kg cwt crossbred lambs improved by 40c to an average of 523c/kg, lifting by $9 per head on a week ago, NLRS reporter David Monk said.

There has been trade lambs listed at 600c to 650c/kg in the south in the past week, but they have to be exceptionally good to be in this price range. An example of this was very good Southdown bred lambs sold at Ballarat last week which were in very fresh condition and tight skins.

Any secondary trade lambs, especially those in long untidy skins, are still only receiving selective support, and sales below 500c/kg for the plainest are common.

At the close of selling on Monday night, the trade lamb indicator was at 526c/kg cwt and light lambs at 405c/kg. The Merino indicator had improved to 405c/kg, mainly due to more processor support for light MK-style stock.

A cut in numbers has given the mutton market a base, with many saleyards yarding less than 3000 head in the past week. The price indicator has ticked up to 320c/kg cwt.