January 14, 2005

Australian Meat Exporters Seek Tighter Live Trade Agreements

As the governments of Australia and Saudi Arabia work out the finer details of resuming a live sheep trade, a major sheep meats exporter has issued a word of warning.

Roger Fletcher from Fletchers International says moves in the live trade affect domestic processing too, and when the Saudi trade ceased over disease concerns, it hit the entire industry. Any new agreements, he said, should be watertight.

Meanwhile demand for lambs is down in Victoria, and skin prices have fallen too, due to a prevalence of grass seed.

Livestock manager with Landmark Robert Bolton says the quality of the lambs is very good, but slaughter prices aren't reflecting it.

"Our trade lambs are making $3.20 to $3.40 and our export lambs are probably making $3.30 to $3.40: so it's not disastrously low, but yes prices have been a sluggish certainly, and I think this is probably attributed to the fact that market supply is exceeding demand somewhat."