Buyers were unable to weaken lamb prices in early trading this week due to tightening supplies being offered at all major selling centres across the eastern seaboard.
Price averages for both trade and heavy export lambs continue to grip to a benchmark rate of around 1000 cents a kilogram carcase weight.
These high prices are keeping averages above $250 for good sucker lambs weighing above 23-24 kilograms.
Almost 18,000 lambs were yarded at Bendigo, but well down 2000 by head.
The markets further north of Corowa, NSW, and Dubbo, NSW, also offered reduced supplies of new season lambs .
There was 8500 lambs at Corowa and 20,600 at Dubbo.
Southern new season lambs are also starting to move into saleyards with Ballarat lamb numbers increasing slightly.
Bidding at saleyards has maintained a robustness about it, with little price change for quality lambs so far this month.
This is a typical trend for spring, when values usually decline as new season lamb numbers begin to hit selling centres.
An example of the exciting new season lamb rates was at Wagga Wagga, NSW, last Thursday where sucker lambs set another new Australian record of an astounding $340 for a pen of lambs.
The pen was estimated to weigh 33kg cwt .
That result was not to be out done on the same day as a pen of 310 old super-sized lambs recorded a top price of $370 as buyers jostled for big lambs with plenty of weight.
At the close of selling Monday the national price average for heavy lambs was listed at 953c/kg cwt.
Prices for trade weights sat at about 915c/kg cwt.
These trade weight national average prices are more than 204c/kg higher year-on-year, while heavy lambs are tracking 270c/kg up on the same time last year.
When drilling into Meat & Livestock Australia's National Livestock Service data by breaking it down region by region, the north is recording the best results.
The NSW price average is trending around 970c/kg to 1018c/kg cwt due tight supplies at most major northern selling centres.
It is a great testament to the resilience of the lamb market amid COVID-19 and lockdowns.
Any pundit reading the tea leaves would find it difficult to predict when the spring price adjustment will take place.
Ballarat restockers have been competing in the north and south against processors for trade weight lambs to shear, paying more than $200 and up to a staggering $225 at centres like Wagga Wagga and Bendigo in the past week.
Meanwhile, the high money for mutton has left the building.
Heavy sheep fell below 600c/kg making from $166 to $222 averaging 537c/kg to 598c/kg cwt.
- Leann Dax is an NLRS market reporter.
