CATTLE prices in Australia’s saleyards have increased significantly in the past week as widespread flooding in Queensland restricts supply and cancels sales.

The benchmark Eastern Young Cattle Indicator, a weekly rolling average of saleyard prices, has gone above 700c/kg carcase weight for the first time since January. The EYCI closed yesterday at 703.16c/kg.

Numbers have been right down at Northern saleyards this week, with last week’s rain covering pretty much all of Qld and a large part of Northern New South Wales – with the number of cattle contributing to the indicator reducing by 6000 head on last week and by 11,000 head on the week before.

Perhaps the biggest show of the reduction in supply was the cancellation of the sale at Roma, Australia’s biggest selling centre. Sales at Gracemere, Blackall and Charters Towers were also cancelled. Dalby went ahead but with a reduced yarding 2673 head.

This year’s market has been remarkably stable, with the indicator hovering around the 650c mark since January. But the weather events of the past month have been extraordinary, for both the flooding it has caused and its widespread nature.

GDL Roma branch manager and agent Geoff Maslen said he was expecting supply to remain tight for the next month. He said the Roma sale should be on again next week and he was expecting about 2000 head.

Channel country floods ongoing

The impact the channel country floods will have on supply will not be known for a long time, with floods still ongoing and in many cases the cleanup has not started. Several people have told Beef Central they are not expecting much cattle movement for the next two months.

Mr Maslen said January was one of the busiest through both the saleyards and private channels, with many in the flooded areas in destock mode before the rain came.

Earlier this week, the Qld Department of Primary Industries said early surveys had suggested about 69,000 head of cattle were either dead or unaccounted for.

Another factor of the floods will be the pasture response in the area, with the floods expected to bring on a big body of feed in their wake – the situation will take the next month-or-two to play out.

Extraordinary amounts of rain have fallen in Queensland in the past month.

Cattle still flowing from the south

While Roma is usually the biggest contributor to the EYCI figures, the absence of the sale meant that Wagga contributed the most this week.

The National Livestock Reporting Service Wagga report said the rain in the north had “invigorated” the market – with young cattle increasing from 30c/kg to 50c/kg.

“A bigger field of buyers attended the sale, looking to fulfill feedlot and restocker orders that originated from the north,” he said.

“The recent rain changed the dynamics of buyer demand, resulting in heightened competition for all cattle with cows a standout performer.”

Restocker demand to come

There is an expectation that the rain might stimulate demand for lighter cattle in Northern NSW and Qld.

A combination of rain off the back of Cyclone Alfred and the latest weather system has meant some producers have gone from destocking to planting oats for winter.

While rivers are still swollen in Western Qld, the sun has been out and little rain is expected in the next week.

Western Queensland rain is largely expected to stop in the next week.

EYCI guessing competition

Beef Central has an ongoing EYCI guessing competition, which will be judged on Tuesday December 9. Many guessing are tipping the EYCI to stay at similar levels to this week, with some going lower and some saying it may go above 1000c.

S.Kidman Australia clothing and apparel

There’s some great prizes up for grabs for the winner and runner-up this year, totalling around $1000. They include:

For the winner, a $650 voucher with high quality Australian country wear manufacturer S. Kidman Australia.

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For this year’s runner-up goes a bottle of Penfolds 389 Shiraz (the poor man’s Grange).