Lamb supply unfazed
The Snapshot
- Weekly east coast lamb slaughter volumes registered 328,902 head processed last week nearly 3% above the five-year trend for this time of the season.
- Lamb slaughter in NSW is 2% above the five-year average and has been relatively stable for the last four weeks ranging between 106,000 to 109,000 head.
- Weekly Victorian lamb slaughter saw an 8% decline from the week prior, but volumes are still sitting 3% ahead of the five-year average trend.
The Detail
As highlighted in a previous piece, as devastating an impact that the Queensland and NSW floods have had on towns in the water’s path, there has been virtually no impact to the sheep meat processing sector and the supply of lamb on the east coast. Indeed, even those abattoirs that were impacted, mostly processing cattle, have managed to get back on track in terms of weekly slaughter volumes within a week.
Weekly east coast lamb slaughter volumes registered 328,902 head processed for the week ending on 11th March, which is 7% higher than during the same week in 2021 and nearly 3% above the five-year trend for this time of the season.
Lamb slaughter in NSW is 2% above the five-year average and has been relatively stable for the last four weeks ranging between 106,000 to 109,000 head, seemingly with no processing disruption due to the recent heavy rains and floods. It was mid-March in 2021 that we saw NSW lamb slaughter lift significantly toward 130,000 as additional lambs were scheduled before the Easter lull but there are no signs of lamb slaughter volumes increasing in a similar fashion yet this year.
Weekly Victorian lamb slaughter saw an 8% decline from the week prior, but volumes are still sitting 3% ahead of the five-year average trend for this time in the season with 162,489 head registered processed for the week ending on 11th March.
