UK pays premium for Aussie beef

SPRING is almost upon us and the next few weeks of weather will have a big influence on livestock prices throughout the Eastern States. 

Some big producing areas like Western Victoria and Southeast South Australia are in desperate need of a heap more rain before they can get a spring of any sort. 

Most of the rest of Victoria, NSW and Queensland are in good shape and in parts of central and Northern NSW. 

Their season is quoted as one of the best for many years. 

Unless these rains come we will see early weaning of lambs and calves to protect the health of their mothers. 

This can already be seen with immature new season lambs hitting the screen with weights as low as 15 kg liveweight. 

Producers electing to sell weaner calves are in a slightly more fortunate position with the demand for store cattle pretty strong throughout the Eastern states. 

Most store cattle sales in Victoria and NSW have been holding up well with most steers with weight making 400c and better and lighter Angus steers up to 500c/kg liveweight.

In the prime cattle markets we are seeing a few more numbers which has kept prices on a par with the last few weeks. 

The cow market has been the standout and even with big numbers like at Mortlake where they yarded 1,280 cows out of a total of 2.468 cattle. 

This market saw heavy cow maintain recent firm quotes with most 290c to 358c while medium and lighter cows lost 20c to sell from 230c to 270c/ kg live. 

At Wagga on the same day (Monday) heavy cows made 305c to 340c and medium weights 220c to 306c/kg. 

I know it was only on small numbers but at Smithton and Powranna this week we saw the best beef cows sell for over 300c/kg which would be the first time for a long time, maybe 12 months. 

The Australian cow market is driven by the price for grinding beef in the US and this price continues to break records almost weekly due to the decreasing national herd and some ongoing droughts in some states. 

The export figures for July have been record breaking for beef and very close for sheep and lamb shipments which has got to be great news. 

Interesting to also note that the UK is paying a 50 per cent premium for Australian beef compared to the average Australian export customer. 

While the volume is small, it is the first step in what commentators say could become a very important market. 

The UK is also a major consumer of our lamb being the eighth largest customer. 

It is just over a year since Australia and the UK signed the new agreement with the capacity to send 35,000 tonnes of beef and 25,000 tonnes of lamb each year with no tariff.