Cattle restockers awaken

There has been some sentiment shift in cattle markets, and as usual it’s more to do with the weather than anything else. Restockers are back in the market, but the approach remains cautious relative to the last restocker boom. The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) has had a very solid rally in the last month, […]

Oil drops while harvest ramps up

Peace has been declared in the Middle East, at least at the time of writing, and it has hit oil futures. It remains to be seen how grains and oilseeds will react, with wheat and soybeans already having come off highs. The announcement on Monday morning that the US and Iran have reached a peace […]

Little fanfare for record trades and mutton

There hasn’t been a lot of fanfare, as prices have been strong for some time, increases are marginal, and the heavy end is lagging. The Eastern States Trade Lamb Indicator (ESTLI) hit a new record last week, with mutton also breaking new ground. Back in August 2025 the ESTLI hit a peak of 1231¢/kg cwt, […]

Sowing into uncertainty

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) released it’s June Crop Report last week, and it looks like the energy crisis has had it’s impacts. Planting areas are down, and production down further. With the conflict in Iran starting just as croppers were gearing up for planting, the volatility in input […]

Could this be peak steer supply?

The end of March seems a lifetime ago given what has gone down in cattle markets since. But it is the end of March slaughter and beef production data which was dropped recently. Despite being out of date, and market drivers having left it behind, it’s still worth analysing. There are some good headline numbers […]

Wheat upside reliant on northern hemisphere

International wheat markets continue to bounce around, looking for a level as the northern hemisphere harvest approaches. Locally price spreads have ballooned, but then it rained. Here we compare prices in different markets. Some good old-fashioned volatility has returned to US wheat markets in recent months. There are plenty of fundamentals in play as we […]

Oilseed growth continues

Last week we looked at the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) in terms of wheat and corn. This week attention turns to oilseeds, with supplies seemingly continuing their never-ending growth. There has been plenty of talk locally about the canola price premium to cereals, and how it’s likely to drive canola production again […]

Lamb slaughter down, weights up

The Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS) quarterly livestock products data dropped last week. While the data is seven weeks old, it is the only data we have on lamb and mutton production, and therefore carcase weights. We have a new record for lamb weights. Lamb slaughter for the March quarter was down 15%, which is […]

What is the appetite for restocking in the south?

With the selling-off of cattle from northern NSW and southeast Queensland, and plenty heading south, we’ve had some queries as to the appetite for restocking in higher rainfall zones of South Australia, Victoria and southern NSW. This time last year we were seeing the southern cattle destock hit it’s peak, as a dry autumn and […]

WASDE forecasting weaker production

The May World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) Report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is always one of the most anticipated. The May WASDE gives the first look at new season production and consumption estimates, and this year it moved the market. After record wheat production and rising stocks in 2025-26, […]

Can extreme US lamb prices flow here?

Trying to decipher US lamb prices is hard for someone with experience in market analysis. After trawling through United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) website with a charting function, and after converting the numbers we can see why their demand for our exports continued to grow. Looking at raw numbers, one would think that US […]

The WA wheatbelt no more

While the official crop report is a little way off, the Grain Industry Association of Western Australia (GIWA) has had a crack at estimating sowing areas in WA for the coming winter cropping season. Looking at the estimates, the WA wheatbelt might need to be renamed the Wheleyola belt. Wheat, barley, canola belt is a […]