00:00So I'm here just having a chat with old mate about sheep meat exports for February.
00:04If we look at the total volumes, they're down around 10% compared to last February,
00:08and some key markets are actually quite soft as we head into the early part of this year.
00:12The US, their volumes are down about 16%, so that could be a bit of an impact to that 15
00:18% tariff
00:18that now attracts sheep meat exports as they go into the US from Australia. Other key markets
00:24like China, they're down 26%, so some of the high pricing we've started to see as we go towards
00:29winter, and that winter peaks in pricing, the Chinese consumers are looking like they're
00:33turning away a little bit. Chinese market's down 26% compared to last February for our
00:38sheep meat exports. Then we go across to all the problems in the Middle East and that Iranian
00:42region. So the MENA region more broadly is about 20% of our sheep meat exports, and currently
00:48access to those sites, whether it's air freight or shipping, is quite reduced. So if that battle
00:55drags on a bit too much and we don't get control of the air, then we could start to see
00:58demand
01:00out of that MENA region slip away, and that could be another problem. So we've got several
01:04markets there that are a little bit problematic for demand at the moment. It may have a bit
01:09of an impact how high prices can go through this winter peak. I have seen some people talking
01:14about prices up around $13, $14 for trade lamb. We may not get there if some of these markets
01:19stay a bit soft in terms of their demand. It'll still be a reasonable market for the producer,
01:23you know, maybe around the $12, $12.50 level, but I'm not sure if those markets aren't firing,
01:28we might not be able to get to those giddy heights of $13 or $14. And that's it for a
01:33sheep
01:33market update for exports. I'll see you when you've got nothing on.
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