August 3, 2004

Prices Of Lamb Rise In Australia

Despite the increase in prices for lamb in Australia, the NSW Farmers Association said farmers were not seeing the benefits.

Association president Mal Peters said many farmers were still hand-feeding stock and dealing with an increase in the price of feed and water.

"It's probably fair to say consumers start to pay more for their fruit, vegetables and other food, they assume that farmers get paid more. But that's not necessarily the case," he said.

Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) is expecting consumers to be reassured by more consistent prices from this month. It predicts more lambs will be sold in the year ahead, thanks to the nationwide response to the Prime Time breeding campaign urging producers to grow more prime lambs for the hungry domestic and export trades.

MLA research shows drought-driven prices have had little impact on domestic lamb consumption - down from 11.6 kilograms a head in 2001 to 10.2 kilograms last year.

At the same time, retail spending on lamb rose from $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion a year, according to MLA marketing general manager David Thomason.