THE sharp rally in young cattle prices continues this week, with the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator pushing through the 650c/kg barrier for the first time since the market started to deteriorate due to rapidly drying conditions in May last year.

The indicator (see explanation below) reached 658.3c/kg (dressed weight equivalent) yesterday, lifting another 13c/kg over the past week, and 117c higher than the start of the year (January 8). Refer to Beef Central’s home-page Industry Dashboard to see the indicator’s longer-term trend.

This time last year, the EYCI was still sitting at 767c/kg, but beginning its long downwards trend that ran through to late October when rain started.

Supply since last week’s rain event has played a part in current indicator performance, with many selling centres recording lighter numbers over the past week. The week ended 26 January showed almost 16,000 EYCI eligible cattle sold through the eastern states saleyards system, compared with barely 11,000 for the seven-day cycle ended today.

Yearling steers and heifers dominate EYCI-eligible trade at present, with vealer weights turning over very light numbers.

Yesterday’s rain-affected Roma store sale – typically the largest weekly contributor to the EYCI indicator – saw eligible cattle average 736c/kg carcase weight, although numbers were well down at 1777 eligible steers and heifers.

Other large contributors over the past week included Wagga (average 649c) and Dubbo (631c). Results from today’s Dalby sale have not yet been added.

The new NLRS Online Young Cattle Indicator has followed a similar trend, reaching 363c/kg yesterday – a rise of 124c/kg since the start of the year.

What is the EYCI?

The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) is a seven-day rolling average of young cattle prices (vealer and yearling heifers and steers 200-400kg liveweight, scores C2 and C3) from 23 saleyards across Queensland, NSW and Victoria. It is expressed in c/kg carcase weight.

At any point in time, a seven-day rolling average includes data from the past seven calendar days. In the case of the EYCI, the dataset takes the average ¢/kg cwt of an animal matching the specifications of the indicator per day for the past week, adds them up and divides the figure by seven. The indicator is updated daily to create a rolling average value for this specification of animal.