It’s that time of the week when we check in on some key indicators of performance in the livestock markets.
The Eastern States Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) fell to 776.49c/kg cwt by Friday morning, a decrease of 5.62c for the week and 47.03c for the month. It’s 60.15c higher than the same time last year.
The National Young Cattle Indicator (NYCI), which reflects national markets and online transactions, also fell this week, by 14.51c/kg to 400.86c/kg on Friday morning, wiping out the gains it made the previous week. It is down 53.19c on last month and up 22.44c on the same time last year.
The National Feeder Heifer Indicator (NFHI), which offers a dedicated lens into the feeder heifer market, dropped and was sitting at 383.88c/kg on Friday morning. It’s 11.66c down on last week.
The Processor Cow Indicator was 295.81c/kg on Friday morning, down 1.94c on last week and 35.07c for the month. The top three contributors to this indicator were Gunnedah, Roma Store and Dalby.
Let’s turn to the sheep and lamb markets.
The AuctionsPlus Restocker Lamb Indicator (ARLI) slipped 55c to 1,303c/kg DW, coming down from the record prices received in recent months.
In a bright spot for the market, the Light Lamb Indicator lifted 43.49c to be 1129.27c on Friday morning, which was 9.89c down on last month and 353.51 up on last year.
The Heavy Lamb Indicator fell 5.81c over the past week to be sitting at 1,099.64c/kg cwt. That is a decrease of 5.81c over the past month and up 251.73c on the same time last year.
Meanwhile the latest slaughter figures, from the week ending April 24, show cattle slaughter remains at near record levels, national lamb slaughter remained steady and national mutton slaughter lifted 19%.