Hot August sees supply build in September

Nutrien Ag Solutions cattle saleyard.

The BOM declared August as the hottest on record, for Northern East Coast producers it created ideal fattening conditions and allowed unimpaired movement of stock. South Australian and Western Victorian producers are desperate for rain to resuscitate their season hopes.

Strong supply from the paddock and some absences from the buying field at the rail put downward pressure on prices. Growers were looking to cash in on the recent price rises with the supply increases coming from northern NSW and QLD saleyards. As a result, Roma and Dubbo had the two largest yardings with an increase week on week of 19% and 27% respectively.

The Eastern States Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) fell 2% (17 c/kg) to 669 ¢/kg on the back of a 9% increase in yardings for the indicator. Restocker heifers and steers bucked the supply surge trend, with yardings for the females falling 15% and 29% for the male’s week on week. The value of the indicators was flat with 1% gains in both; heifers closed the week at 293 ¢/kg and males at 369 ¢/kg.

The Western Young Cattle indicator (WYCI) rose 3%, pushing it above the $6/kg tide mark, closing the week at 602 ¢/kg. Like the restockers, it didn’t follow the major supply trend of the market with yardings falling 33% on the week prior. The west discount to the east fell from 15% to 10% this week

Processor cows were down 3% in value with an 18% rise in yardings week on week. The indicator closed the selling week at 288 ¢/kg, with a total of 9k head being sold. Dubbo was the largest contributor to the indicator with 16% of the yardings. Leongatha had the highest average price for the selling week at 325 ¢/kg or a 16% premium to the average.

Slaughter levels for the week prior were flat week on week, with total slaughter at 140k head per week. It was the 6th highest volume week of slaughter on the East Coast for the year. A level that is 22% above the 5-year average and 11% higher than the same week last year. 

Initial yardings data for the week reported by the NRLS show an increase of 8% week on week, to a total of 58.7k. Compared to the same selling week last year this is an increase of 57%.  

Next week

With only 111 days until Christmas, the 100-day article from feedlots are now falling in the Christmas shutdown period for processors, this will result in less intensity in the buying field up north as feedlots will time the shutdown with what they commit to.

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Data sources: MLA, BOM, Mecardo

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