Rainfall divide evident in restockers

Restocker yearling steers and heifers were the only major indicators to lose ground this week despite also being the only ones to have markedly lower throughput. Steers nationally dropped 10¢/kg to 495¢/kg. Breaking this down into state averages offers more insight. Queensland had the two largest yardings of restocker yearling steer eligible stock, and still averaged a significant premium to the national price, coming in at 528¢/kg. The Qld price was also at the biggest year-on-year premium, up 132¢/kg. Meanwhile NSW (which only had marginally more eligible stock) averaged 476¢/kg, with no yards hitting the 500¢/kg mark. Neither Victoria or South Australia offered enough stock to have a representative price.

Meanwhile all processor indicators were up 10-12¢/kg for the week, and feeders were up 8-9¢/kg. Processor cows jumped 11¢/kg to 365¢/kg, as throughput remained fairly steady at about 11,000 head. NSW had 7000 of them, which pushed their average to the lowest in the east of 361¢/kg. The national cow price has only ever been higher once before at this time of year, and that was in 2022, when good seasonal conditions were widespread.

Feeder steers finished today at 471¢/kg, an 8¢/kg for the week. They now sit at a 30% premium year-on-year, which is the biggest increase of all the major prices. It puts them at 13% above the five-year average. Feeder prices were aided in the north by rainfall limiting the weekly supply of spot cattle available, according to Argus Meat & Livestock. They also reported processors looking to get beef into China before the new quota fills up – which some are now predicting could be as early as May – have been pulling fed cattle to slaughter early, opening up feeder space but potentially impacting grassfed heavy cattle demand now and down the track.

Slaughter fell very marginally last week, but was up by more than 6% year-on-year, while yardings also dropped this week, by 17%, but again remained above year-ago levels. Rain cancelled sales at Roma, Blackall, and Charters Towers in Queensland saw yardings in that state fall by 60%. The female cattle slaughter rate last week was 47%.