Light lambs in demand in Middle East

The number of lightweight lambs sold to the Middle East has surged after a quiet four years. Here’s why.

The MK or ‘bag lamb’ trade has come back alive at a crucial time for the industry as more light conditioned lambs are sold into a market which has limited restocking power this spring.

Export lamb sales to the MENA region – Middle East and North Africa – have surged after the market went extremely quiet four years ago.

It is a positive for farmers selling suckers into the spring market hit by a patchy El Nino season, and could have ramifications for prime lamb supply next year as fewer light lambs make it back into the paddock.

The amount of lamb air-freighted from Victoria to the Middle East last month was six times greater than October 2022, according to the latest data just released by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

The increased demand is showing up at saleyards as more abattoirs compete for light lambs in the 14-18kg carcass weight range. These lambs are exported out in whole carcass form packaged in individual bags, hence the term ‘bag lamb’. The other label MK lamb stands for Muslim Kill as most of these little lambs end up in the Middle East.

Victoria is a key state for bag lamb production and price data shows the south has the dearest rate for light lambs, based on National Livestock Reporting Service data. Early this week light lambs in the ideal MK range of 16-18kg were listed at an average of 407c/kg carcass weight in Victoria, against a trend of 317c/kg in NSW.

The price difference between the two states is more than normal, reflecting both the tighter season in NSW which has pushed more light lambs onto the market at a time when restocking is limited, and also the greater export kill space for light lambs in Victoria.

Lightweight lambs to the Middle East have increased in number. Picture: Chloe Smith

Midfield Meats at Warrnambool is possibly the volume buyer of MK lambs across the industry.

So far this year (January to October), Victorian processors have air freighted out 12,000 tonnes of chilled lamb to the Middle East, according to DAFF. This is up 63 per cent on the reduced sales of 4547 tonnes during the same 10-month period last year.

Go back to 2021 and the volume was 5560 tonnes, in 2020 it was 13,365 tonnes and in 2019 it hit a peak of 22,739 tonnes for the January to October period.

MK bag lambs were a major component of kills four years ago, with the industry then hit by a snowball of problems including Covid which disrupted air-freight, the removal of price subsidies for imported lamb by Qatar in late 2020, and record high lamb prices in Australia which made it uncompetitive for some Middle East and African nations.

Today’s lower price point for lamb is arguably a key reason why MK orders have ramped up again. Although there is some grey areas and a lack of explanation as to why some countries have stepped up demand, the most intriguing of these being Iran.

Sales of chilled lamb to Iran from Australia have reached 3635 tonnes this year, the vast bulk of it delivered in September and October, according to DAFF records. Prior to this there has been little activity from the country for the past three years.

To break it down Iran has purchased 3,635,000 kilograms of lamb in the past couple of months. At an average of 16kg carcass weight it equates to about 244,000 lambs.

Other Middle East countries to show good increases in lamb exports last month included:

DUBAI at 2077 tonnes, up 43 per cent on October last year;

JORDAN at 1053 tonnes, up 103 per cent;

SAUDI Arabia at 827 tonnes, up 106 per cent; and

QATAR at 711 tonnes, up 53 per cent.

They might seem like small volumes but when broken down by weight it accounts for some reasonable numbers of lambs.

Taking more light lambs out of the supply chain now can only be a good thing for lamb producers going forward. And surely abattoir operators must start to take notice of the lack of incentive and price direction to hold and feed lambs, as the lack of weight and finish at Bendigo this week was sobering at the least.