July 15, 2004
Lamb, Beef Price To Rise In Australia
Booming demand in Australia pushed lamb prices to a record of $126.50 a head this week, sparking fears of a jump in retail prices.
The demand has been so heavy that processors have not been able to pass on a price rise, Meat & Livestock Australia market analyst Graeme Curry said yesterday.
"The rate the market has lifted, they can't pass it straight along the food chain," he said.
Demand rose because drought in the Eastern States had cut supplies.
In Perth yesterday, Coles, Woolworths and Action were selling lamb chops for $15.99 a kilo, about $2/kg more than the average retail price in February.
But with four to six weeks before supplies of new-season or spring lamb come on to the market, processors and butchers are feeling the pinch, with beef also at an all-time high.
Grant Fraser, of Gregory's Meat & Poultry at Innaloo, said he had to pay $4.10/kg yesterday for beef carcases, 20¢/kg more than last week.
According to Meat & Livestock Australia figures, lamb chops are selling in the United States for $49/kg and in Britain for $21/kg.
T-bone steak in the US also sells for $49/kg and in Britain at $32.80/kg, compared with yesterday's prices in Coles and Woolworths of $17.97 and in Action at $16.99.
Mr Curry said the lambs sold for the record price at Midland Saleyards on Tuesday were 30kg which made them $4.21/kg dressed weight.
He said the market had been cruising along a month ago when the interstate shortage suddenly brought buyers across the Nullarbor and the price went up. "It's the good old law of supply and demand," he said.
WAFarmers meat spokesman Mike Norton said the beef market was strong as a result of the run-down in stock the drought caused in the Eastern States, and growth in demand from Japan and Korea since they banned US imports after the first American case of mad cow disease late last year.
Brazil's exports were hit by outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
Exports of live cattle to Indonesia also were at a record.
