Market Talk - Beef export shining a light as records fall

Good rain throughout South Eastern Australia over the last week will put a bit of confidence back into the industry and although it is late it at least has put some moisture back into the very dry ground. 

Locally here in Tassie the rain was pretty widespread with many falls between 20 and 30 mm. 

In Western Victoria and much of South East South Australia there were rains of between 25 and 50 mm and immediately we will see numbers of cows and ewes coming into the slaughter chain drop which is a good sign going forward. 

Unfortunately the big numbers of breeders that have been killed over the last 12 months will have a big impact on numbers of both lambs and cattle going forward.

Export news, and we have seen more records broken in May as Australia exported 129,477 tonnes of beef for the month to 40 different countries compared with 113,923 tonnes for the same month last year. 

It is the third highest month on record and the largest ever May shipment. 

The figures show that Asia imported 78,473 tonnes with Japan taking 19,803 tonnes and South Korea 17,409 tonnes while the US took 38,431 tonnes an increase of three per cent on April and up 23 per cent on May 2024. We sent 23,877 tonnes of beef to China which is 55 per cent up on May last year. 

So far this financial year Australia has exported 2.18 million tonnes of beef compared with 1.9 million tonnes last year.

 Queensland was the major exporter sending 66,186 tonnes followed by Victoria at 27,867 tonnes.

The Chinese market is becoming interesting and while we are not the largest exporter in terms of total volume we tend to dominate the premium end of the market which is very encouraging going forward. 

Since the tariff fiasco, Australia has become a popular source of meat products in China and although their economy is still slow the future looks bright.

Lamb and mutton markets continue to maintain recent high quotes with many lambs averaging 950c to 1,050c/kg in the saleyards and even the secondary lambs are making 850c to 900c/kg. 

At Ballarat on Tuesday extra heavy lambs made $330 to $399, heavy $285 to $328, heavy trade $275 to $331 and trade (22-24 kg) $202 to $310. 

Lighter MK lambs made $155 to $196 with plainer types $80 to $130/head. 

Some the best trade lambs were quoted between 1,100c and 1,200c/kg.

I can’t remember seeing those sort of quotes ever. 

At Powranna on Tuesday we saw a record top price of $336 for a very heavy pen, while the rest of the heavy lambs made $260 to $305, trade $186 to $250 and light trade $140 to $196/head. 

There were also big numbers of well-bred store lambs included and most of these sold from $122 to $160.

Mutton sales right through the week have been a stronger again and at Ballarat, Horsham and Hamilton most sheep were quoted between 650c and 800c/kg carcass weight which is only slightly dearer than our market at Powranna on Tuesday where extra heavy sheep made $186 to $238, heavy $178 to $208, medium $118 to $184, light $110 to $116 and very light $78 to $94/head.