The Eastern States Trade Lamb Indicator (ESTLI) dropped 31¢ over the week to 822¢/kg cwt. The ESTLI has now fallen 8.6% in the last two weeks but still remains higher than the same time last year.  Trade lambs also came under pressure in the west, dropping 20¢ to 729¢/kg cwt.

In the eastern states it was really only Restocker lambs which managed to find some footing in this week’s market. The National Restocker Lamb Indicator lifted 8¢ to 946¢/kg cwt. Merino lamb prices fell steeply in NSW and Victoria, ending the week 73¢ and 101¢ cheaper respectively.

Heavy and light lambs also came under pressure in all eastern states. The most expensive Heavy lambs in the country are in Victoria at 834¢/kg cwt, followed by NSW at 826¢/kg cwt and cheaper again over the border in South Australlia at 787¢/kg cwt.

There was very little support for mutton in this week’s market. The National Mutton Indicator (NMI) dropped 65¢ over the week to end at 550¢/kg cwt. The NMI is now sitting 54¢ lower than the same time last year.

All eastern states saw a rise in lamb throughput last week. East coast lamb yardings rose 18.5%, with 213,859 head yarded.  This was 15% higher than the same time last year. Sheep numbers also increased by over 23,000 head with the total number yarded 7% higher than this time last year.

Last week was the first time we’ve seen lamb slaughter steady. 281,358 head of lambs were processed week which is 10% fewer than the same time last year and well below the seasonal average. Looking at the states, it’s NSW that has seen a sharp drop in the number of lambs processed. Approximately 68,000 head of lambs have been processed in NSW each week for the last two weeks which is around 35-40% less than the corresponding weeks in 2020.