Sheep and lamb markets volatile, says leading Elders agent

The Eastern States Trade Lamb Indicator went up 35 cents a kilogram carcase weight for the week, or 4.7 per cent, to reach 734c/kg cwt.

Elders Victoria and Riverina livestock manager Matt Tinkler said that was a reflection of some of the new season lambs coming forward.

Mr Tinkler said markets had been "jumping around" a little bit.

"Earlier last week the market would have been $20 a head cheaper in some places, that was on the back of probably a couple of weeks of increased supply, which has since dried up," he said.

"We have seen it get a bit wetter in a couple of areas, and that has just slowed the numbers coming in."

He said while there was still a large number of older lambs coming forward, suckers had started to hit the market.

"There is a bit of changeover with some of the processors going for new season lambs - that consistency of kill space right across the board continues to be the issue in the whole production chain," he said.

He said processors were still being hit by staff shortages, which seemed to be a continuing factor in most industries.

Nutrien Ag Solutions south-east Victoria livestock development manager Ron Rutledge said producers had been unable to move stock or present them for sale due to the wet, overcast weather.

"A couple of the major supermarkets are swinging across to new season's lambs and that has put a bit of a floor in the new season's price for the moment," Mr Rutledge said.

"The air has been put into the balloon - if we get a week, to 10 days, of better weather conditions we will see a groundswell of lambs appear.

"It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when."

He said trade lambs were selling from 850-900c/kg, for a $200-$215/head return.

"It's a lot brighter than we would have seen three weeks ago, but it's a day-by-day process," he said.

Numbers yarded in Victoria were down but at Forbes, NSW, Deniliquin, NSW, Wagga Wagga, NSW, and Corowa, NSW, there had been an increase.

Mr Rutledge said there had been an influx of Merino lambs on AuctionsPlus, which were making between $80-$110.

"That's a reasonable price, from a restocker purchasing point of view and there is a lot more stock going north than south," he said.

He said that was due to the "advanced" season in northern NSW.

"They have the ability to handle store stock, whereas 70pc of Victoria is still in a winter hiatus," he said.

"Once things fire up, we will see a big number of stock come forward from mid-October.

"It's probably three weeks later than normal due to the weather."

Meat & Livestock Australia senior market information analyst Ripley Atkinson said the market had started to improve, with consistent price rises in the last week.

"There has been some movement, in terms of processors adjusting their capacity to accommodate more lambs, which has also supported increased demand," Mr Atkinson said.

"Instead of processing more mutton on a daily basis, they have reduced that kill space to accommodate more lambs, because of the available supply at the moment, before the spring flush."

He said the fundamentals of global demand for Australian lamb and mutton were strong.

"There's a rising population of consumers with a disposal income that want to purchase our product," he said.

"We know exports are up and that's demonstrating to producers and the industry that the demand for our product is there.

"As the flock grows on the back of the seasonal conditions, it's allowing us to capture that demand from the emerging and established markets across the world.

"When you look at the bigger picture it's in good shape."