BOTH direct consignment and saleyard-sourced slaughter cattle have come under price pressure this week, as meatworks types try to hit the market in heavy numbers.

The return to work after the holiday-shortened Easter/ANZAC Day period has served as a trigger point, with heavy direct consignment bookings taking place over the past week. Cooler nights and the prospects of frosts in coming weeks have only greased the wheels – as has cash flow before the end of the financial year for some.

Quite a number of Queensland export plants are now offering unpriced kills slots only, with prices to be negotiated closer to slaughter date. Some others are not offering quotes or accepting bookings at all this week. Some operators are quoting space bookings for the end of May, in some cases forward into mid-June and even early July in some parts of the state.

We’re reluctant to use terms like ‘glut’ in this report in terms of supply, for fear of being accused of talking the market down, but suffice to say that some Queensland processors have not been this far forward on slaughter cattle bookings since the tail end of the 2019-20 drought.

The difference, this time, of course, is that most Queensland producers are not under seasonal or feed availability pressure like they were five years ago. It’s a different story further south, though, where the drought in southern NSW and parts of Victoria is being blamed for a record yarding of close to 9000 head at Wagga yesterday (see saleyards summaries below).

Over-the hooks prices in Queensland this week have generally slipped 10-20c/kg, with more at the higher end of that range. Those adjustments come on top of an earlier easing trend over the previous fortnight.

In southern parts of Queensland, competitive grids seen this morning show heavy meatworks cows 550-560c/kg and heavy grass steers four-teeth 620-635c (on one grid showing 620c, there was 630c available for HGP-free steer).

Central Queensland rates are typically 10-20c behind those quotes listed above.

Queensland cows at their recent high of 600c/kg (seen several months ago during tight supply, impacted by weather) is now a distant memory, and that price was arguably artificial, regardless.

The long delays in kill access being seen in Central Queensland is now clearly pushing more cattle (more than normal, at least) out of the region into plants further south, in both southern Queensland and into NSW.

In southern states, eastern parts of South Australia have 610c/kg on heavy cows and 680c/kg on four-tooth grass ox this week, both back 20c, while southern NSW has offers of 590c/kg on cows (back 10c) and grass ox 690c (unchanged, short supply due to season).

Capacity still limiting factor

Even in southern states, some large export processors are now more or less booked out until the latter stages of June. Part of that is being impacted by large inflows of Northern Territory cattle booked for coming weeks. One plant in South Australia has an estimated 25-30pc of its kills in coming weeks comprising Top End and Central Australian stock.

Processor operating capacity continues to be a factor in the supply-demand equation, with some Queensland sheds running shifts during yesterday’s state Labour Day holiday, and a number also planning shifts next Saturday.

The fact is the last time forward bookings in Queensland were as deep as this, the industry (NLRS data) was killing +170,000 cattle a week. This year, kills continue to struggle to get past 150,000 a week (a figure passed just once this year).  The best thing that now happens is clear air for the next few months, with no more processor holiday delays for the timebeing.

Recent price movements will inevitably add some margin to processors’ bottom lines, especially on cows, but it needs to be remembered that the Aussie Dollar has moved against beef exporters’ favour over the past month, strengthening by at least US2c. On top of that, trimmings demand out of the US is not yet what it was prior to the Trump tariff event a month ago.

Given the sequence of wet months February-March-April for many Queensland and northern NSW cattle producers, processors are reporting carcase weights well up for this time of year. Both steer and cow weights during April were at least +10-15kg on typical cow and steer for the time of year, one operator said.

Large saleyards yardings see softer trend

The direct consignment trend is being mirrored also in saleyards business, with some very large yardings seen early this week.

The trend is fairly consistent, with AuctionsPlus numbers surging to a five-year high of 27,080 head on Friday. The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (comprising eligible weight cattle across 18 large selling centres) shows there was almost 18,000 head represented in today’s EYCI calculation (rolling seven-day average), up from only 10,300 head this time last month.

Most physical sales held early this week saw a large rise in numbers offered, and prices under pressure.

In southern NSW, Wagga yarded 8690 head yesterday, setting a new yards record – up 2100 on the previous week. The trend was described in the NLRS report as “an unprecedented influx of cattle that has surprised agents.” The surge in numbers is primarily attributed to ongoing water issues and a lack of feed, which have forced farmers to sell, with some having no choice but to commence liquidating their cow herds. Agents in the Wagga region expect this trend to continue as conditions remain dire. A notable absence of restocking inquiries from the northern regions significantly impacted prices, particularly across the lighter weight categories. In the export market, heavy cattle, particularly steers and bullocks, were limited in number. Prices for these cattle ranged from 303-400c. An offering of 2415 cows of various weights and grades saw prices decline 20-30c/kg across the board. Heavy cows sold from 280-310c/kg, while leaner cows fetched 210-290c/kg.

Big yardings were also seen at Tamworth (3500), Warwick (2000) and Inverell (2000+) this week.

Gunnedah yarded 2400 this morning, up almost 1000 on last week. Cows were cheaper, with grown steers too few in number to quote. Trends were varied with heifers bearing the brunt of negative corrections. Heavy feeders were considerably cheaper at 300-340c/kg.  Heavy grown heifers to process much cheaper 275c to 318c/kg. Cows were cheaper throughout, with heavy drafts slipping 25c/kg, selling from 280-294c/kg.

Wodonga sale this morning yarded 2200 head, up 22pc on last week. Almost half the offering was cows. The market softened, losing its intensity across secondary classes. In the export market competition was notably weaker over all categories. Heavy steers averaged 368c; bullocks sold to a small group of buyers with prices slipping 26c to average 366c. A large offering of cows met a smaller field of buyers who were not prepared to chase the market. Heavy cows traded from 280-298c, slipping 37c. Leaner cows slipped  20-32c with the plainer types hardest hit.

Roma sale this morning went against the southern trend, dropping 2000 head on last week’s whopper offering to yard 6363 head. A preliminary report (full details tomorrow) had grown steers 500-600g topping 340c with bullocks +600kg selling to 344c. Both were down in price on last week. Cows were yet to sell. Big price falls seen in southern selling centres kept southern processor buyers at home for another week or two.