There have been upward movements in global lamb prices in recent weeks, assisted by stronger export demand, some rainfall in Australia’s largest lamb producing regions and the anticipation of tighter supplies in coming months from the world’s two largest lamb exporters – New Zealand (NZ) and Australia (AgriHQ NZ).
So, how do Australian and NZ lamb prices compare?
Firstly, we need to look at production in each country, and NZ’s system is much more seasonal than Australia.
In NZ, the production season runs from October to September, with the peak lamb processing period typically occurring between January and April.
During these peak months, NZ lamb slaughter can exceed Australian lamb slaughter by up to 2 million head each month (Statistics NZ, ABS).
However, towards the tail-end of the NZ season, in August and September, NZ lamb processing winds right down, to around 1 million head below Australian levels.
A further interesting point to note is that the peak turn-off period for NZ has been trending lower over the past 10 years, as the growing dairy industry has offset area for sheep and lamb production.
http://www.mla.com.au/Prices-markets/Market-news/Australian-lamb-prices-surge-ahead-of-NZ-05052016