Yardings surged again, putting on another 13% from the week prior, which also saw a similar lift, indicating increasing interest in offloading cattle as we settle into the summer period. Not surprisingly, the selling pressure was coming from VIC and NSW, which respectively booked a 38% and 18% increment on last weeks figures, with QLD and SA also participating with more modest rises of 4%.
Overall, yardings increased by 6,039 head compared to the week prior, with 51,125 cattle yarded on the east coast for the week ending 13th November; which is 34% below last years figures, but only 13% below the 5-year average. Over the last two weeks, we have seen a cumulative increase of over 10,000 head, but for this time of year, this is hardly unusual, and this week is likely to have seen even higher numbers of cattle to market, with the trend expected to continue into December.
Slaughter numbers turned around from the backtracking of the last couple weeks, and saw a good uplift last week, booking a 7% increase on the week prior. The upward movement was led by NSW and VIC, which both increased processor throughput by around 17%. Overall, a total of 110,134 cattle were processed for the week ending the 13th November.
Despite being down 30% compared to last year, slaughter is currently only 22% off the average. However, to put this into perspective, slaughter has never been lower for this time of year in the last decade.
In the face of probable higher yardings this week, the EYCI still quietly notched up another record high yesterday, lifting 5¢ from last week to finish up at 829¢/kg cwt.
Moving onto what’s been happening in the categories this week, the big news is that after a few consecutive weeks of falls, the restocker market has rebounded, but, perversely, feeders have slowed down their buying, with the first, albeit modest fall experienced in over two months.
Most of the restocker buying pressure seems to be emanating from QLD, and to a lesser extent, NSW. The QLD enthusiasm could possibly be traced back to an expectation of good rains from the northern monsoon season.
Restocker steers came back into favour, booking a 13¢ (3%) rise for the week, to finish up at 490¢/kg lwt. Conversely, Feeder steers lost 1¢ (<1%) to settle at 433¢/kg lwt, which ends over 10 consecutive weeks of incremental gains.
Processor steers lifted marginally, adding 2¢ (<1%), and medium steers followed, pushing upwards by 7¢ (2%), respectively ending the week at 429¢/kg lwt and 399¢/kg lwt.
Other falls for the week included medium cows, which shed 6¢ (2%) to end at 290¢/kg lwt and heavy steers, which fell 2¢ (<1%) to settle the week at 376¢/kg lwt. Finally, vealers bounced back down by 17¢ (4%), reversing much of last weeks gains to come to rest at 448¢/kg lwt.
The Aussie dollar moved up a touch, to finish the week at 0.729 US. 90CL frozen cow has continued to rise in a modest fashion, to see an 8¢ (1%) gain, ending the week at 655/¢kg swt.
Another EYCI record, and restockers return
Yardings surged again, putting on another 13% from the week prior, which also saw a similar lift, indicating increasing interest in offloading cattle as we settle into the summer period. Not surprisingly, the selling pressure was coming from VIC and NSW, which respectively booked a 38% and 18% increment on last weeks figures, with QLD and SA also participating with more modest rises of 4%.
Overall, yardings increased by 6,039 head compared to the week prior, with 51,125 cattle yarded on the east coast for the week ending 13th November; which is 34% below last years figures, but only 13% below the 5-year average. Over the last two weeks, we have seen a cumulative increase of over 10,000 head, but for this time of year, this is hardly unusual, and this week is likely to have seen even higher numbers of cattle to market, with the trend expected to continue into December.
Slaughter numbers turned around from the backtracking of the last couple weeks, and saw a good uplift last week, booking a 7% increase on the week prior. The upward movement was led by NSW and VIC, which both increased processor throughput by around 17%. Overall, a total of 110,134 cattle were processed for the week ending the 13th November.
Despite being down 30% compared to last year, slaughter is currently only 22% off the average. However, to put this into perspective, slaughter has never been lower for this time of year in the last decade.
In the face of probable higher yardings this week, the EYCI still quietly notched up another record high yesterday, lifting 5¢ from last week to finish up at 829¢/kg cwt.
Moving onto what’s been happening in the categories this week, the big news is that after a few consecutive weeks of falls, the restocker market has rebounded, but, perversely, feeders have slowed down their buying, with the first, albeit modest fall experienced in over two months.
Most of the restocker buying pressure seems to be emanating from QLD, and to a lesser extent, NSW. The QLD enthusiasm could possibly be traced back to an expectation of good rains from the northern monsoon season.
Restocker steers came back into favour, booking a 13¢ (3%) rise for the week, to finish up at 490¢/kg lwt. Conversely, Feeder steers lost 1¢ (<1%) to settle at 433¢/kg lwt, which ends over 10 consecutive weeks of incremental gains.
Processor steers lifted marginally, adding 2¢ (<1%), and medium steers followed, pushing upwards by 7¢ (2%), respectively ending the week at 429¢/kg lwt and 399¢/kg lwt.
Other falls for the week included medium cows, which shed 6¢ (2%) to end at 290¢/kg lwt and heavy steers, which fell 2¢ (<1%) to settle the week at 376¢/kg lwt. Finally, vealers bounced back down by 17¢ (4%), reversing much of last weeks gains to come to rest at 448¢/kg lwt.
The Aussie dollar moved up a touch, to finish the week at 0.729 US. 90CL frozen cow has continued to rise in a modest fashion, to see an 8¢ (1%) gain, ending the week at 655/¢kg swt.
The week ahead….
Rainfall is looking a bit more generously distributed, if on the low side this week, with 1-5mm delivered down the east coast, with eastern VIC awarded a solid 15-25, and central Australia missing out. At this time of year, we expect that yardings will continue to increase as summer progresses and the land dries off in the south, and slaughter might pick up a bit to match.
Have any questions or comments?
Click on graph to expand
Click on graph to expand
Click on graph to expand
Data sources: MLA, BOM, Mecardo.
Categories
Have any questions or comments?
Cattle price volatility lower as supply and demand find balance
Cattle market volatility has waned recently. The wild swings of 2023 saw prices move up to 70% across the course of two months. Thus far
Weather whiplash creates erratic cattle market
Roads and paddocks have begun to dry out allowing the backlog of cattle from soaked areas of Queensland and New South Wales to hit the
US herd build provides a boost
The long-predicted slowdown in US beef production has seemingly come into play this year, and Australian beef is filling some of the production gaps. Total
All hands on deck clearing cattle
Young cattle prices have bounced back after the recent rain, improving 28ȼ to 626ȼ/kg cwt. While rain helps limit the flow of cattle at one
Want market insights delivered straight to your inbox?
Sign up to the mailing list to get regular updates to new analysis and market outlooks
Independent analysis and outlook for wool, livestock and grain markets delivered to you as it’s published
Listen to the podcast
Join the Mecardo team for the Commodity Conversations podcast, where we provide short weekly market recaps and longer conversations with guests to discuss the drivers and trends in livestock, grain and fibre markets.
Research: Analysis of the Australian sheep flock
In this report for LiveCorp and MLA, we analysed the historical trends in the demographics of the Australian sheep flock, examining domestic factors that influence farm-level enterprise decision making.
SERVICES AND CAPABILITIES STATEMENT BROCHURE
We don’t just bring you the most up to date market insights. Find out more about Mecardo’s services including risk management advisory, modelling, benchmarking, research & consultancy.