SA lamb gives nation meaty leg-up

Covering North America and the Middle East/North Africa, he said 34 per cent of SA's lamb exports found its way to the US market in 2013 compared with the national average of 20pc, because of the much heavier weight of the export lambs.

Mr Barker - a guest speaker at Friday's SA Sheepmeat Producer Forum at Roseworthy - said the outlook for lamb and sheep meat prices was positive, thanks to strong export demand from a growing number of markets, and tight supply for the second half of the year.

National lamb sales were forecast to be down 5pc year-on-year between July and October, to 8.5 million head.

In SA 145,000 fewer lambs were on hand than at the same time last year.

The latest MLA lamb survey from June also indicated a difficult breeding season in SA with marking percentages of 86pc in Merinos and 107pc from other breeds.

He said that seasonal conditions and whether an El Nino developed this spring would be crucial to the flow of lambs onto the market and subsequent prices.

Price volatility from year-to-year was not ideal for the industry but consistent prices of $4 a kilogram and above were enticing producers to start rebuilding the national flock, which sat at about 72.2 million head.

"The Australian sheep flock will start to grow very slowly now," he said. "For the last few years it has started to plateau but for most of the last 30 years it was in steep decline."

The domestic market remained the largest market for Australian lamb but volume had been dropping over the past few years because of growth in the export markets.

At the same time, retail prices had come off slightly in the past couple of years.

"Part of that is that the retailers are trying to keep lamb on shelves," he said. "It is a good product to get people through the doors and once in they start to buy other products."

In 2013 Australia exported more lamb than was consumed at home - a record 210,000 tonnes.

The Middle East was the largest market as a region dominated by the oil exporting countries and those higher disposable incomes, such as the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt.

The Bahrain government even subsidised the retail price of lamb to about $2.50-$3.50/kg which allows their poorer citizens access to good quality protein.

There was further long-term growth forecast for the Middle East - 80 to 100 new hotels were to be built in Dubai in the next decade. Dubai would host the World Expo in 2020 and Qatar would host the 2022 Soccer World Cup, fuelling the construction boom.

This was a big service area for Australian lamb with many workers from north Africa and the Indian subcontinent accustomed to eating it.

The US was the largest single country by value for Australian lamb with almost 40,000 tonnes in 2013, mostly high-value cuts such as legs and racks, worth a total of around $350 million.

Mr Barker said China had become the largest volume export market by a few hundred tonnes, mainly for lower-value cuts such as breast, flap and shoulder.

* Full report in Stock Journal, September 4, 2014 issue.