Lamb turnoff takes precedence
Sheep slaughter for the September 2023 quarter rose year-on-year but dropped in comparison to the previous quarter, the first time this has occurred since 2016. These figures come from the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics quarterly livestock data drop, released last week, and they show us that while lambs are breaking records, sheep slaughter is […]
Herd tracking sideways despite slaughter growth
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) quarterly ‘Livestock Products’ report was released recently. The ABS numbers give the official numbers of cattle slaughtered and beef produced, and while we can get an idea from the weekly Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) figures, the official numbers are well worth investigating. While there has been plenty of […]
Australian combing and carding volumes
The makeup or quality of the Australian wool clip varies through the season, and between seasons. The supply chain at times can turn up at auction generally assuming volumes and quality will be on par with that of recent years. That leaves the demand side of the market open to supply shocks. In this article […]
Barley shows upside as harvest is held up
2023 Winter crop harvest has stalled with rainfall on the East Coast dampening progress. There is still plenty of grain and oilseed to still come off. There hasn’t been a real reaction on the price front as a result. The market is tracking sideways, but there are signs of upside for Barley. Harvesters went hard […]
Lambs are looking up
Rainfall in the east – whether it actually fell or is still forecast to come – continued to support sheep and lamb prices this week, with all categories on the rise. The west didn’t get the rain, or even the promise of it, so hasn’t yet witnessed any improved positivity in its market. Restockers finally […]
Demand passes the volume test
It has been a fortunate fortnight for the Merino wool industry as market indicators and pricing continue to improve. Demand has been resilient in the face of increased, unseasonal supply. The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) increased 19ȼ to 1170ȼ/kg and similarly in US dollar terms improved 19ȼ to US 767ȼ/kg. This was driven by improved […]
Grass is greener?
Large amounts of rain across the East coast saw producers opting to hold onto cattle as feed concerns eased. This had a positive impact on price seeing all indicators rise. Yardings fell, off the back of last weeks significant jump, leaving buyers competing more over available stock in the market. After last week’s bounce In […]
This wheat market is a real turkey
The wheat market hit multi-month lows this week after continued pressure from cheap Black Sea supplies and relief in the form of rain across parched soybean fields in Brazil. The dip in the market has encouraged buyers out from under their collective rock Last night the US markets were closed for their Thanksgiving public holiday. […]
Future breeders moving off farm?
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its quarterly Livestock Products report last week, and while we can get some indications from weekly data, the quarterly government data allows us to delve deeper. There were some significant records broken in September. Anyone who shows any interest in sheep and lamb markets will have known supply […]
Lotfed cattle spending more time on feed
Increased feeder cattle availability and lower prices have been enough to offset the increase of other inputs for lotfeeders, with cattle on feed numbers climbing higher in the September quarter. The modest increase of about 1500 head took the number of cattle on feed to 1.258 million head, making the July to September 2023 period […]
Goat and sheepmeat correlations
The drop in meat prices since mid-2022 has affected beef, lamb, mutton, and goat. This article investigates the relationship between goat meat prices and other extensively grown meats during the past two decades. In past Mecardo articles, we have looked at lamb as being the upper bound for goat meat prices and mutton as being […]
A halt to harvest
If you’re reading this, you’re interested in grain prices, and as such, you’ll likely have seen the weather forecast for the coming week. With rain forecast to fall all up and down the East Coast cropping zone, harvest is likely to pull up. What will this do to prices? Harvest grain pricing is inherently volatile, […]
