The remaining livestock available for processing in New Zealand for the rest of the season will be less than in any of the previous five seasons, according to a forecast by Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Economic Service (B+LNZ).
After a price collapse three years ago led to bankruptcy and protest, China’s mutton market is now starting to stabilise, according to an independent analyst.
Australia has flown 1,400 specially-reared Suffolk sheep to China as part of a breeding program geared up to stimulate the genetic development of China’s growing livestock.
Australian sheepmeat has been buoyed by the “shrinking” competition of New Zealand’s flock and – despite a dip in slaughtered lambs – is predicated to be stronger in 2016.
A glut of local and imported supply has caused Chinese lamb prices to fall this year, with the current retail price of RMB50/kg, down 10.7% year-on-year according to pricing data from China’s Ministry of Agriculture.
The high prices of mutton and sheep meat in the Chinese market are attracting fraudsters, with everything from dog and rat being substituted onto unsuspecting consumers.
A combination of improved farming and processing practices could help reduce the problems of lamb browning in the Australian market, a scientific study has revealed.
China’s pig breeders appear to have had enough of low prices and are moving on to breed sheep. The key agricultural province of Shandong is seeing a shift to sheep this spring, according to reports from the local government.
China’s sheep meat prices have climbed 11% year-on-year – not quite as significant as the increase in farmgate prices for beef cattle, but more a sign that lamb is being seen as a replacement for pork and chicken among an increasingly wealthy consumer...
With lamb supply dropping away, New Zealand has struggled to keep up with global demand and prices have soared, so is there a turnaround on the horizon?
