Light lambs grounded
Despite a decrease in yardings week on week, the tightening of supply was not enough to support prices. Middle East airspace closures impacted demand at the yards as buyers waited for supply chains to reopen. Yardings and slaughter levels are still operating at above-average levels, as mixed farming producers begin to shift focus. Last week […]
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 market. The influx of cattle outweighed demand at last week’s price point, and most markets ended this week softer. However, the weather forecast hints that it might not be long […]
Exchange rate pain is wool markets gain
Sydney and Fremantle markets made up for lost time with big improvements across both the broad and merino fleece categories this week. The lower Aussie dollar spurned strong bidding, and sellers sensing they might be on the best wave of the set were keen to take advantage as the national pass-in rate reached a seasonal […]
Argentina dealt a cruel hand
It has been a relatively benign week in the wheat market. Some of the risk premium that had built up over Middle East concerns has dissipated at the time of writing. This has been most evident in the price of crude oil which briefly peaked at US$92/barrel but has now retraced to US$82/barrel. The dip […]
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 Australian beef exports for the first quarter of 2024 are up 25% year-on-year, and exports to the US are up 80% for that same period. We have to go back […]
US lamb demand stronger
The US has held the mantle as our largest market for lamb exports since lambs got very expensive back in 2020. As a single destination, they are still the largest importer, but last year Australia sent more to the Middle East region. The US is very important in putting a floor in prices, so we’ll […]
Performance from pulses
Faba beans have become a popular break crop in southern states, delivering not only a valuable export or feed commodity, but also giving nutritional benefits to soils. The previous season saw lower plantings and yields, but a boost in prices. Pulse production, in general, has lifted in recent years, with increased plantings of lentils and […]
Update on RWS premiums
The greasy wool industry tends to think of quality effects on price as additive, somewhat like building a “lego price model” – add for good quality, deduct for poor quality. Clearly, this is not applicable across all types; spinner-style dags are just dags. The application of premiums (say for RWS) depends a lot on the […]
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 end of the supply chain, at the other, plenty of beef is on deck and headed overseas. The story at Roma and Dubbo was big yardings and keen demand for […]
Disruption ahead so supply shuffles forward
Sheep producers are making way for the winter crop and getting ahead of the upcoming public holiday sales disruption. Close to 250,000 lambs flooded to saleyards across the country this week which was a huge jump of almost an extra 100k on the previous week. Anzac Day will be commemorated on the 25th of April […]
A goldilocks wool market: not too hot, not too cold
Back from the Easter recess, results were mixed between selling centres with the Merino segment fairly steady in Sydney, stronger in Melbourne and weaker in the West. A large offering was met with mixed interest influenced by a stronger Aussie dollar. The Eastern Market Indicator held steady at 1,142¢/kg clean. The AUD has strengthened since […]
USDA offers up a vanilla slice
Last night, the market rolled back on itself after the USDA printed a very vanilla April WASDE (World Ag Supply & Demand Estimates) report. With most of the focus on South America, the trade had expected the USDA to make some cuts to both Brazilian and Argentine production. However, the USDA saw fit to hold […]
