MLA highlights sheepmeat demand surge

According to Meat & Livestock Australia analysis, the Eastern Market Indicator has eased by 17 per cent over the past 12 months, with the tide turning towards sheepmeat in recent months.

Wool is currently fetching 632c over the Merino indicator.

The heavy lamb indicator has eased by 15pc over the past year after starting from highs of 786c/kg.

Merino wool prices have dropped consistently over the past 12 months while sheepmeat prices shifted more drastically.

MLA has used the narrower gap to highlight shifting producer intentions, with wool production now only two times greater than sheepmeat production.

MLA market information officer Stephen Bignell said producers would make individual decisions but the narrowing gap between wool and the Merino lamb indicator could be seen as an indication of wider trends when comparing sheepmeat versus wool pricing.

Newly released Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that sheep and lamb slaughter were both up in the December quarter.

Sheep slaughtered in the quarter increased 1.4pc to 2.3 million, with mutton production up 3.7pc to to 58,941 tonnes.

Lamb slaughter was up by 0.4pc to 6.6 million, with lamb production increasing 0.6pc to 157,948 tonnes.

Mr Bignell said the final figures showed that it was a record lamb production year, with nearly 600,000 tonnes of lamb produced, 12pc above the previous record set in 2022.

It comes amid an easing of the sheep and lamb market across all indicators.

Nutrien Ag Solutions' south east region livestock lead Adam Mountjoy said after the strong opening of the market in the first selling fortnight of 2024, a big influx of numbers had come forward.

"Whether young stock particularly lambs have been held on stubble that now require a spray application, the season has got hot and dry and the commodity price to retain those lambs on heavy rations is quite expensive into the autumn months so it's probably not unforeseen that we would see a rise in numbers and a drop in pricing right now," he said.

"However I do believe that the autumn and winter period will be quite buoyant still.

Mr Mountjoy said it was quite concerning to see the amount of mutton hitting the market at the moment, off the back of depressed pricing in late 2023.

"As producers at the moment are sort of ducking for cover from the massive numbers that have been witnessed at the moment and consigning stock direct, I'm seeing that the forward pricing that's available at the moment is a bit of a watermark and will probably remain that way for the next fortnight to three weeks prior to the short weeks and the implications that Easter brings to us by the end of March."