AuctionsPlus commercial sheep and lamb listings jumped 37% to 54,396 in the first full week back after Easter. The increased throughput met with price increases - including a 103c/kg bump to 565c/kg for the AuctionsPlus restocker indicator ARLI and a 2% increase to $125 for the Crossbred Lamb Indicator.
There was an eight percentage point fall in the clearance rate to 63%, and Value Over Reserve rose fell by $3 to average $7 across all listings.
Lambs made up a significant portion of the increased yarding this week, with Crossbred Lambs and Merino Wether Lambs making up the bulk of the offering.
In the Ewe categories SM First x Ewes were a stand out with a 1144% increase in throughput and a $19/head increase in price, with a 51% clearance rate. SM Shedding Breed Ewes and SIL Composite/Other Breed Ewes fetched an average fall in price of $39 and clearance of 25% and $25 with a 100% clearance respectively.
Listings were up in all states including Tasmania, which re-entered the market with 320 head offered. South Australia more than doubled its offering to 9,189 head and NSW had the highest numbers, offering more than 30,000 head. NSW buyers, on the back of rain in the past two weeks, purchased more than 20,000 head this week. Meanwhile buyer activity in Queensland slumped to just 900 head, down 2,730. WA buyers stepped back into the market to take a healthy 670 head for the week.
Processors were not active in the online market for the third week in a row.
Table 1: AuctionsPlus National Weekly Sheep and Lamb Prices
Report: Interactive Market Dashboard
For Crossbred Lambs, 10,857 head was offered, up 62% from the previous week, with a $3 jump in the price to average $125. From Condah, VIC a line of 380 Poll Dorset/Border Leicester/Merino mixed sex Aug/Sep '23 lambs weighing 46kg lwt returned $152/head, or 328c/kg and will travel to a buyer in Melton, VIC.
12,850 Merino Wether Lambs were offered, a 63% increase from the week prior, but the price remained unchanged. From Hay, NSW a line of 625 Poll Merino Wether lambs Jun/Jul '23, and weighing 40kg lwt, returned $107/head, or 268c/kg and will travel to a buyer in Deniliquin, NSW.
1,152 SIL Composite/Other Breed Ewes Ewes were offered this week, down 62% from last week. Prices were also down by $25/head to record an average price of $130/head, however the clearance rate was 100%.
Note: Prices as at 5pm Thursday, 11th April 2024
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