Southern Queensland asserted its dominance over the Australian cattle market in the final quarter of 2021, flexing its considerable purchasing muscle to cement the top spot in AuctionsPlus’ quarterly buying rankings. In the final quarter of 2021, of the 187,275 head offered through AuctionsPlus, 169,187 head were sold – a clearance rate of 90%.
Underpinned by the geographic concentration of the feedlot and processing sector and exacerbated by long-awaited above average rainfall for the quarter, Southern Queensland purchased 23% of all cattle sold through AuctionsPlus in the final quarter of 2021, at 39,191 head. Compared to the final quarters of 2020 (27,341 head) and 2019 (10,537 head), purchases were up 43% and 272%, respectively. However, it was the purchase of steers throughout the quarter which clarified the intentions of southern Queensland buyers, securing 33% of all steers offered during the quarter, compared to 23% in 2020 and only 17% in 2019.
Interestingly, Southern Queensland was the only major region during the fourth quarter of 2021 which registered higher steer purchases than female purchases. Nationally the male to female split of purchases was 44% male, 56% female, with PTIC heifers easily the largest single category offered.
With the improved pasture conditions across many regions over the past two years, the volume of 400kg plus steers sold through AuctionsPlus during the final quarter of 2021 increased 30% from the same period in 2020, to 12,789 head. Southern Queensland purchased 27% of the total, followed by the Riverina NSW (23%) and Central NSW (10%). The average price for 400kg plus steers also exploded during the final quarter of the year, averaging $2,426/head over the three months – an increase of 34% from the final quarter of 2020 and 86% from 2019.
NSW regions made up the next four rankings, with Central West NSW edging above the Northwest Slopes and Plains, for second place, with 21,590 head, compared to 20,187 head. For Central West NSW, two-out-of-three purchases were female, which was up from only 60% in the final quarter of 2020, but well below the 80% of female purchase during the first quarter of 2021. Out of the major cattle purchasing regions, the Hunter region of NSW had the highest female purchase percentage for the fourth quarter at 85%, followed by the Southern Tablelands/Monaro region, at 73%.
For the 2021 calendar year, the top ten regions are listed below.
Table 1: AuctionsPlus Top Ten Cattle Purchasing Regions