Scarcity Pushes Queensland to an Almost “Perfect Score”

As part of its weekly cattle market reporting service, AuctionsPlus’ Insights team analyses and publishes a table of prices and clearance rates specifically for Queensland offered cattle. Last week’s Queensland offering of 2,087 head almost achieved an extremely rare event, falling just short of a “perfect score” with just 1 lot of PTIC cows not selling. With an overall clearance of 97% and 10-out-of-11 categories reaching a “perfect” 100% clearance, it was a unique week for the Queensland cattle market (Table 1).

The restocking market in Queensland has tightened significantly during August, with potential vendors choosing to hold onto young cattle and breeding females, as seasonal conditions allow for further finishing and rebuilding intentions to take priority. Those looking to buy have been forced to search far and wide for suitable numbers, then forced to compete hard and pay big money when quality is available. Queensland clearance rates for August have averaged 90% - increasing from 68% in July. The difference between final sale price and reserve price has also jumped dramatically from $86 average in July to $200 in August (Figure 1).

The scarce supply of quality cattle and ferocious competition has influenced some extraordinary results for those hidden gems. From Thallon, Southern Queensland, a line of 103 Angus NSM future breeders aged 13-14-months-old and averaging 302kg lwt sold for a staggering $2,610/head, or 864c/kg lwt. This was $610 over the reserve price, with the heifers remaining in Queensland. This result occurred in last week’s Weaner and Yearling Sale, with no 330-400kg or 400kg+ heifers on offer in Queensland.

Comparing the current market to the same week in 2021, there was a strong offering of 6,779 head in mid-August 2021, which reached an overall clearance of 92%, with 8-out-of-17 categories reaching a “perfect” 100% clearance (Table 2). Interestingly, average prices were generally lower, despite the quoted ‘unprecedented buyer confidence’ at the time. Demonstrating that the current strong prices and clearance rates are predominantly driven by the significant lack of supply, supported by steadily improving producer confidence.

The demand for cattle in Queensland has been felt at seedstock sales across Northern NSW, as graziers look to bolster bull team numbers – pushing average bull sale prices 20% higher than last year. 15% of bulls sold on AuctionsPlus out of NSW in August were bought by online bidders in Queensland. This compares to 11% of bulls sold on AuctionsPlus out of Queensland purchased by NSW online bidders.