AUSTRALIA looks to be heading for another year of record goat production, with high numbers still the dominating factor of the market.

After years of record high prices, the goat market started going down in 2022 and finished last year at less than $2/kg. This year the low prices have continued, with processors now running at full capacity.

Thomas Food International livestock manager Paul Leonard said the company’s Bourke plant has been averaging 4000 head/day – with a full complement of staff.

Goat is typically a commodity market with limited opportunities for premiums and Mr Leonard said an abundant supply of goats was putting pressure on markets.

Paul Leonard

“Record numbers are being processed and there is a lot of product out there,” he said.

The drop in goat prices in recent years has seen other players come into export markets.

According to a recent goat snapshot from Meat & Livestock Australia the United States remains Australia’s largest export market. However, it dropped to its lowest market share in 20 years last year with exports to China surging and South Korea coming in as the third-largest export market.

While TFI exports to the US, Mr Leonard said China’s involvement in has taken some pressure off the market.

“We have a pretty big customer base in the US, but with the plants listed for China being able to send a lot of product there it takes the pressure off us,” he said.

Goat processing capacity has significantly expanded in Western Queensland and New South Wales in recent years, with TFI opening Bourke in 2022 and Western Meat Exporters in Charleville finishing an expansion in the same year.

Mr Leonard said the additional processing capacity and current record production should eventually change the supply and demand dynamics.

“With Bourke processing 20,000 head/week that was not there before that is going to have a significant impact on overall the numbers of goats that have been cleaned up,” he said.

“When that does happen, it will be a good thing because we will be able to demand more return for our product. At the moment the retailers and wholesalers are in a position of strength and can dictate what they are going to pay.”