WE may be in the midst of a herd rebuild, of sorts, but plenty of Queensland is still in drought and normal seasonality still drives the market.
Over in WA markets the WYCI has reached another record high, hitting 653¢/kg cwt. The WYCI looks to be going it alone, leaving a slightly stronger EYCI (570¢/kg cwt), and a weaker 90CL (583¢/kg swt) behind this week.
The WYCI is 45¢/kg lwt above the EYCI, so a 300kg animal is $135 cheaper in the east than in the west.
Other big movers in the market were medium steers in NSW and Victoria, where values gained 29 and 44¢ respectively to hit 581 and 588¢/kg cwt, nearly matching trade steer prices.
Not surprisingly finished cattle supply seems to be waning, and prices finding strength.