Slaughter pivots towards sheep as lamb supply tightens across Australia

Published Sep 13, 2024

Tridge summary

Australia has seen a decrease in lamb slaughter numbers, which while still surpassing the five-year average, are lower than the previous year. This is due to processor shutdowns and a reduction in the number of lambs. In contrast, sheep slaughter has increased. The result is an expected tightening of supply of slaughter-ready lambs, particularly heavy weight ones, which could drive prices back up to $9. However, there is resistance to high prices from consumers, and exports to China and the Middle East have decreased likely due to price hikes. Despite these challenges, demand for restocker lambs in New South Wales is expected to remain strong due to favorable seasonal conditions. This scenario is of particular interest to the New Zealand red meat industry, with expectations of potential global lamb price increases if the trend continues and New Zealand's expected lower supply.

Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Lamb slaughter numbers have dropped back across Australia, with multiple processor shutdowns and fewer lambs on the ground playing a key role. Sheep slaughter meanwhile however has trended up. Even with the drop in numbers, lamb slaughter remains above the five-year average though is lower than levels seen at the same time last year. This year lamb slaughter has been 17 per cent up on last year and 26 per cent on the five-year average, while mutton slaughter has been 14 per cent up on last year and 49pc higher than the five-year average, Elders business intelligence analyst Richard Koch said. "Lamb slaughter had been pretty high up until the last month or so, now it's starting to fall back towards the five-year average," he said. "There's a combination of things... the tough spring last year and the poor prices encouraged people to liquidate some of their flocks so we saw that in the latter half of 2023 and that's why you're seeing that sheep kill so high. "With that there were ...

Source: Farmweekly