Global lamb pricing
Market Morsel
Price differentials for the northern and southern hemisphere remain wide into 2025, with producers in the UK, EU and USA enjoying higher lamb values compared to their counterparts in Australia and New Zealand.
After converting the equivalent trade lamb type in each country to an AU cents per kilo price on a carcass weight basis (cwt) we can see that currently UK and EU lambs are fetching around 1500 cents, the US have climbed back from 900c/kg in October 2024 to break through 1200 cents recently. Meanwhile Australian and Kiwi producers are sitting tightly together at around 765c/kg on a monthly average price basis (as at the end of March 2025).
In terms of percentage price spread trends, Australian lamb has been fluctuating between 20% premium and parity to the Kiwi lamb price since the recovering in domestic lamb prices post the market crash seen in the final quarter of 2023. Meanwhile the Aussie price discount to the US price narrowed through the middle of 2024 and the US lamb market went through a mid-year lull, reaching a discount of around 12% in Sept/Oct 2024 before widening again to a 36% discount as at the end of March 2025. The Aussie lamnb price discount to the EU/UK price sits at around 50%, widening marginally from 35-45% as at the end of 2024.
