INDICATORS: Markets recovering recent losses as steer numbers return

The National Young Cattle Indicator (NYCI) continues to bounce back, lifting 12.95c/kg liveweight in the past week to be 357.92c/kg early Friday morning. It remains 5.87 back on the previous month and is 28.08 higher than the same time last year.

The NYCI is a seven-day rolling average of young cattle sold across all NLRS-reported saleyards and Australia’s suite of online livestock marketplaces.

Roma Store Sales, recording an average price of 372.89c/kg, accounted for the largest portion - 26% - of the calculation this week, with NSW Online sales accounting for the second largest portion of the calculation at 21%.

Yearling steers took over heifers as the largest category included, with a substantially larger head count of 6,391, averaging 382.52c/kg, a 4.31c/kg price boost from last week.

Meanwhile, The Eastern States Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI), a seven-day rolling average of young cattle from 23 saleyards across Queensland, NSW and Victoria, was sitting at 669.32 cents per kilogram dressed on Friday morning, up 15.67 for the week, back 9.05 from a month ago and up 42.43 on last year.

There was plenty of good news in the sheep markets. The Restocker Lamb Indicator was sitting at 701.47 cents per kilogram dressed on Friday morning, a rise of 43.85 week on week, with the Heavy Lamb Indicator 812.47 cents per kilogram dressed, an increase of 33.62 for the week and 169.07 compared to the same time last year.

The Merino Lamb Indicator jumped this week, up to 626.21 cents per kilogram dressed, or 54.32 higher than a week ago, and the Mutton Indicator also lifted to 369.87 cents per kilogram dressed, or 32.37 lower than the same time last week.