Lamb On Track For Another Strong Year As The World Hungers ... - ABC

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Lamb on track for another strong year as the world hungers for Australian meatShareShare articleLamb on track for another strong year as the world hungers for Australian meat

  • By Luke Radford

  • Photo of Cara JefferyC

    By Cara Jeffery

  • ABC Northern Tasmania

  • Topic:Sheep Farming

Tue 13 Jul 2021Tuesday 13 July 2021Tue 13 Jul 2021 at 8:22pm
A small mob of sheep are pushed up a race, one looks down the camera.

Australian lamb is in hot demand. (ABC New England North West: Jennifer Ingall)

abc.net.au/news/australian-lamb-prices-continue-to-rise/100281332ShareShare article

The price of lamb is continuing to rise as global demand for meat ramps up through the back half of the winter season.

Key points:

  • The price of lamb continues to steadily rise
  • High prices are being driven by strong international demand from China and North America, combined with low flock numbers 
  • A trade lamb currently costs nine per cent of the average weekly wage — its highest point since the early 1980s

The National Trade Lamb Indicator is currently sitting at 870¢/kg after a steady rise since early June, compared to 769¢/kg at the same time last year.

Thomas Elder Markets analyst Matt Dalgleish said while it was short of the maximum price of 949¢/kg set in 2019/2020, the price tag was still incredibly high.

"Right now, one trade lamb — about a 20kg carcase weight trade lamb — would cost about 9 per cent of the average Australian weekly wage, which is the highest [average] point since 1981,"
Mr Dalgleish said.

"That's up from around 4 or 5 per cent at around about the late `90s/early 2000s.  

"For the past two decades the price has been creeping up, but it's still nothing compared to what it was in the `50s — back then the price of lamb was nearly 30 per cent of the weekly wage."

A packaged marinated roast sits in a butchers window

As prices increase, more people are opting for cheaper cuts and smaller roasts.   (ABC Rural: Luke Radford )

A good season, low flock numbers and strong international demand as global economies wake from the pandemic were the main drivers, according to Mr Dalgleish.

"This is the period of time where normally we see the peak during the year-on-year cycle, but beyond that China's a big player and we're getting some good interest out of North America as well," he said. 

"I think the majority of the Northern Hemisphere are dealing with the rollout of the vaccine quite well, and certainly if you look at America, their hospitality sector is booming.

"Providing we don't see another variant emerge that the vaccine doesn't respond to, we're through the worst of it from a global demand perspective."

'Unbelievably good' for farmers

While the price is yet to reach the same peak, this year's price has been significantly more consistent then 2020 and 2019.

The lowest price for lamb so far this year was 783¢/kg on April 21 — compared to 626¢/kg in 2019 and 637¢/kg last year.

A man in a brown windbreaker stands on a driveway, a line of gum-trees stands in the distance.

Northern Tasmanian farmer Scott Colvin says the strong prices have led him to double the size of his flock.  (ABC Rural: Luke Radford )

Scott Colvin produces 14,000 prime lambs a year on his property Nosswick near Cressy in Tasmania's Northern Midlands.

He said the good returns had enabled producers like himself to expand their operations.

"Lamb's unbelievably good, it's where it needs to be for producer … as a breeder it has been exceptional, as a trader this year is probably a little tighter."

Mr Colvin said it had allowed him to expand his irrigation program and increase stock numbers.

"We've doubled our ewe numbers and we've increased our trading operation basically from zero through to seven or eight thousand lambs a year,"
he said.

"It's been one of the better protein industries to be involved in."

At the country's largest sheep and lamb selling centre, in Wagga Wagga, yardings for well grown lambs are surging, as farmers look to cash in on the buoyant market ahead of the looming sucker season.

Last week 40,000 lambs and 9000 sheep were sold.

Pens full of sheep stretch into the distance.

Last week prices surged to 933 cents at the country's largest sheep and lamb selling centre in Wagga Wagga.  (ABC Rural: Laurissa Smith)

Director of Wagga Regional Livestock, Isaac Hill, said farmers were happy with the rising price and agents were pleased with the high volume of lambs being yarded.

"With the season the way it is there seems to be either an abundance of merino lambs at the moment or export lambs, which has made a bit of niche for those good quality trade lambs — they are definitely attracting a premium at the moment,"
Mr Hill said.

Trade weight lambs (weighing 22kg to 24kg) at Wagga sold for an average of 933c/kg.

Mr Hill said an influx of sucker lambs would hit the market at Wagga next month.

"That will probably create a bigger supply of trade lambs and may decrease the influx of heavier export weight lambs, so I'm unsure if the market will continue to push upwards then, but the outlook is all very positive now," he said.

'It's gone up a third' 

For Launceston butcher, Christine Bessel, this year's price is part of a wider trend she's been watching since opening her store five years ago.

"I reckon it's gone up by a third compared to what it was originally when I started. We used to do 10-12 lambs a week and now we'd be down to 4-6 at most."

a woman in a black jumper stands in front of a fridge full of meat, she has blonde hair.

Butcher Christine Bessel says the price of lamb has risen nearly a third since she opened her shop.  (ABC Rural: Luke Radford )

"I've found that people go for smaller roasts, loin chops and the value-added stuff, like burgers and pastries.

"People will still go for legs, the trend is now to cook your leg in the Weber or on the spit, so you might sell a forequarter heading into a weekend.

"But some families can't afford it because it's so expensive."

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