MLA - Meat & Livestock Australia Limited

01/27/2023 | News release | Distributed by Public on 01/26/2023 19:38

Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

27 January 2023

Key points:

  • The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) remained stable this week with yardings softening.
  • Thursday's public holiday reduced sheep and lamb yardings significantly with Wagga Wagga sales not occurring.
  • Cattle, sheep and lamb slaughter are coming in at much higher levels year-on-year.

Cattle

The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) had a relatively stable week after significant softening from pre-Christmas prices to 781.39¢/kg carcase weight (cwt). The Western Young Cattle Indicator (WYCI) currently sits at a premium in comparison to the EYCI at 857.25¢/kg cwt.

Cattle yardings had reduced numbers this week with 22,700 head reaching the saleyards. Roma yardings have softened 500 head week-on-week to 3,300. However, demand and prices for heavier steers and heifers remains strong at the saleyard. Heavy grown steer and bullock prices held firm at the Dalby saleyards with an increase of its yardings by 915 head with buyers willing to pay premiums for better quality stock.

Dubbo saleyards held 36% of all sales and were the largest contributor to the Heavy Steer Indicator. However, prices at the saleyard have softened, placing pricing pressure on the indicator.

Restocker yearling heifer prices improved 40¢ week-on-week with Roma the largest contributor of all sales at 24%.

Sheep

Thursday's public holiday meant some sales did not go ahead and yardings were reduced. Wagga Wagga did not hold a sale, which led to a large reduction in the numbers of yardings. Last week Wagga Wagga yarded 53,000 head, which was a major contribution to the weekly yardings. As a result, this week's numbers were back 51%.

Heavy lambs have strengthened 17¢ week-on-week at 810.88¢/kg cwt and throughput has decreased by 10,000 head. Forbes salesyards contributed 11% of the throughput and improved prices for heavy lambs by 27¢ at the saleyard. Yardings at Forbes were reduced by 1,750 head but lambs yardings improved by 1,000 head. This indicates that producers are preferencing selling of their lambs to make better profits.

Slaughter

Despite some processors remaining offline, slaughter from last week increased significantly with cattle slaughter reaching 99,206 head. This is 21% above last week and 37% above 2022 levels.

Sheep and lamb slaughter strengthened this week, lifting 12,797 and 23,436 head respectively. Sheep slaughter numbers have seen an increase of 68% year-on-year and are much higher than this time last year.

Goat slaughter only improved 4% week-on-week, below the very high levels seen at the beginning of last year.

Markets update

Markets that did not run this week - Moss Vale, Leongatha, Thursday Dubbo, South Eastern Livestock Exchange (SELX) cattle, Bairnsdale, Wagga Wagga, Armidale cattle, Powranna and Mount Barker.

Webinar links

The February Cattle Projections will be released Tuesday 31 January and the cattle projections webinar will be held Thursday 2 February. To register visit MLA Cattle Projections Webinar Feb 2023.

The February Sheep projections will be released on the Tuesday, 14 February and the webinar will be held Thursday 16 February. To register visit MLA Sheep Projections Webinar Feb 2023.