From last week’s prime sale at Dubbo some cattle, particularly cows were hitting the scales with plenty of starch to return very big results to their owners.
Miss Deidre Dorman Gulgong saw her pen of seven cows sell for 145c/kg weigh 798kg and return $1156.90 each.
Old bullocks from the same consignment sold from $1.50c to $1.80c with a price range of $1480 to $1500 per head.
Retired real estate agent John Hunter and his partners, Geurie saw the best of their cows sell for 156c and return $1146.
Scott Mitchell Neilrex saw his heavy weight mix sex Limo cross vealers sell from 210c to 225c with his best steer calf returning a handsome $1050.
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Rain and storms have been imminent all this week and for the most recent cattle sales this inclement weather has augured well for producers with the market firming across all categories.
Sheep and lambs sales have not shown much improvement, but in the forthcoming weeks reduced numbers should help.
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Some highlights in marketing from across the world include the report coming in from Canada that they will finally (by the end of this calendar year) have access to the lucrative South Korean beef market.
Korea has been the last Asian country to still have bans on Canadian beef since BSE was discovered in that country in 2003.
My understanding is that the lifting of this ban in the short term will only apply to cattle under 30 months.
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Two reports coming out of the United States may just indicate that some sections of that country’s economy may have turned the corner.
The consumption of beef has increased in the most recent reporting period along with a rise in the price of their domestic cuts.
This has increased demand for imported product.
Secondly the recent report released from the Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) indicates that this part of their domestic economy is expanding as more patrons opt to dine out.
In the past 12 months more than 50 per cent of restaurant owners reported an increased in sales with many in the trade suggesting that they feel that these figures will improve even further in the forthcoming months.
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A tale of two cities relates to the beef import situation in Korea and Japan.
In Korea Australian Beef imports reached 14,926 tonnes for September which was the highest monthly total into that country for the year.
The Korean market has expanded rapidly this year growing by some 23 per cent, but unfortunately our overall market share has declined by 3 per cent down to 49 per cent of total beef imports.
On the other hand beef imports into Japan have declined by 15 per cent in September on a year-on-year basis.
The United States gained most in the chilled beef sales up by 49 per cent from last year.
While Australia at a loss of 16 per cent was about average and New Zealand was the big loser falling by 51 per cent when compared to the same time last year.
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Grain producers in the north and north-west so far are enjoying a much more benevolent harvest than last year.
Many areas have enjoyed eight to 10 days rain free and this has allowed many operators to make serious in roads into their harvest.
Quality appears to be slightly lower than hoped, but yields are very high and mostly the growers are happy.
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