Analyst Intel Archives

The temporary closure of the global restaurant industry under covid-19 has taken a hefty toll on venison and the size of the blow has become especially clear in the latest set of industry data.

As new season lambs start to appear in paddocks on early country, in-lamb ewe fairs are usually a common occurrence around the sale yards but if 2020 has taught us anything it is that this year is not one to be trusted to be normal.

After 31 years based at the Rangiuru sale yards, PGG Wrightson agent Neil Penman decided it was time to hang up the phone on his stock agent career, one that has spanned nearly five decades.

The main bobby calf season is almost here but export markets are still affected by covid-19, leading to some concern about prices.

A Hawkes Bay farmer very wisely recently said “We’ll never run out of lambs – if the price is right they will keep coming” and that certainly seems to be ringing true nationwide as June store lamb tallies at yards covered by AgriHQ’s LivestockEye reports clearly show a significant lift in volume, especially when compared to five-year average levels. 

In this industry we often refer to the previous season as a benchmark. 

Last year was one out of the box for bull farmers. 

Strong manufacturing beef demand from China led to a tug of war between it and the United States, enabling export prices to soar. 

Slowly but surely the store cattle market is lifting out of the lockdown blues but it has taken a while.

Store cattle have been the slowest class to come back though not all the blame can be put on covid-19. An accumulation of factors such as drought, limited processor space and slow finishing rates have all affected this class but it finally feels like the climb has started and looks set to continue in that vein. 

Only a month ago log exporters were breaking all-time records for the returns. 

Such a strong reawakening of the New Zealand log market was welcomed by those in the industry following the shutdown through level four but there were major doubts at the time whether those prices could be maintained. 

It turns out those doubts were well founded.

• Good five-year ewes, SIL 189%, were $200

• Male lamb averaged softened to $119

• Ewe lamb averaged softened to $99