Angus cattle in green paddock with dark clouds in the background

Supply has been easing to the yards during harvest, which has provided support for the market so far, but emerging restockers from the south might throw a spanner in the works for processor buyers.

This week saw improvement across the board for all indicators, helped in part by the third week in a row of declining numbers in the yards. Indicative NLRS yardings report 58,162 head yarded, the lowest since early August.

Between rainfall and harvest, there have been plenty of reasons to keep cattle back home, and the market is responding. Indicators averaged 12¢ to 39¢ improvement this week, with heavy steers averaging just an 8¢ increase to 442¢/kg lwt. The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) rose 19¢ to 863¢/kg cwt.

Per MLA saleyard reports, the majority of sales saw a stronger market. Storms impacted numbers at Roma but there was strong interest in better lines of cattle. Victorian restockers made the trip to Wagga to see the increase in heavy cattle and bid accordingly. Dubbo saw an increased yarding of younger cattle, which found upward momentum in pricing.

It’s been full steam ahead for slaughter, with last week’s weekly figure still eclipsing 155K head nationally. This bodes well for prices as rain has reached Victoria, and restocker interest will be paramount to price support.

This week on Mecardo, Jamie-Lee Oldfield had a look at restocker resurgence and the impact on cow prices (Read more here). There is currently little dividing the processor and restocker price when it comes to cows, making trading an empty one for a pregnant one a fairly attractive proposition for producers, particularly if the southern season begins to improve.

Next week

Expectations would be for supply to tick higher in the coming weeks as sellers look to capitalise on rainfall and current prices. After spending nine months sending cattle north, restockers in the south will begin to toss their hat in the ring.

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Data sources: Mecardo; Meat and Livestock Australia

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