While lamb and sheep prices have reacted to the rain in Victoria and NSW, the heavy falls didn’t make it to northern NSW and Queensland.
As a result, national indicators were stagnant. Eastern Young Cattle Indicator yardings fell away from the seven-month highs of last week but remained strong.
Seemingly, demand was a little weaker. The EYCI tracked sideways, finishing at 579.25¢/kg cwt. It’s now spent six weeks around this level. The Victorian Restocker Indicator rallied 36¢ to 305¢/kg lwt, but remains well behind its Queensland and NSW counterparts (359 and 328¢ respectively).
Export beef prices also eased this week, which might explain lower slaughter cattle values. The 90CL Frozen Cow Indicator fell 17¢, or 2.5 per cent, to a six-week low of 592¢/kg swt on the back of weaker demand from the US.