Adding some weight to the Merino lamb trade
The humble Merino wether lamb has come a long way. The once hard to trade commodity is now a serious asset to a Merino producer, and an opportunity to a lamb finisher. Big numbers are coming onto the market out of Western NSW and the Riverina, and the lambs have had an exceptional start to […]
Vietnam swaps pork for Aussie cattle
The strengthened Australian dollar and domestic cattle price are impacting not just beef export markets, but the live cattle trade as well. Despite nearly 11,000 more cattle being exported in August compared to July, overall export volumes for the year to August, the latest figures available, have dropped by 10 per cent. But in a […]
Structural change in the Australian Merino clip
A Mecardo reader has asked for a brief look at the structural change to the Australian merino clip during the past three decades. It is easy to become caught up in the year to year fluctuations in supply and price, losing some of the longer term perspective on how things are changing. In the past […]
The death of export demand called prematurely
Long time readers will know that the Australian lamb market is largely driven by export demand. While the domestic market is still our biggest single market, the proportion of total production that goes to exports has steadily increased over the last 15 years. Demand from the export market also shifts more quickly, and just as […]
