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NATIONAL SUMMARY
Driving Prices Up
- In keeping with recent reports the ongoing dry conditions in the north of the country continue to drive demand and price. New season fodder is coming on to the market however not in sufficient amounts to meet local demand so prices remain elevated.
- Transport costs continue to affect the final costs of fodder given the distances that the fodder needs to travel as well as the high cost of diesel and other inputs being passed to the end user.
- Exporters are in the marketplace offering good premiums for new season cereal hay and keeping prices high in certain lines.
Driving Prices Down
- Local green feed availability continues to keep demand, and therefore prices, stable in most of the southern areas of the country.
- More livestock producers are either moving into maintenance feeding schedules in areas with limited pasture availability or are destocking. Well above average numbers of sheep are being processed this year as the sheep flock is also reduced, which is reducing demand for fodder.
- The cutting of hay and silage as it moves through the regions appears to be showing a rebalancing in the costs of some lines as both grower expectation and end users demand fall into alignment.
- Older hay supplies are still filtering into the market, as the new season moves through the regions, this hay can be of lesser quality and therefore usually at a lower cost.
Local News
- Trade in hay is increasing as the new season begins to pick up, but there is still a fair amount of this is older stock moving out of sheds to make room, or some small amounts of newly cut hay. This hay is headed into the drier parts of the country to meet demand there.
- Some reports of damage to agricultural land with both fires and flood in parts of NSW, QLD and Victoria.
- The Live sheep phase out panel has been granted an extension to the date on which is it to report back to the Minister until the 25 October 2023, to allow it to take into account the large volume of submissions.
- The Bureau’s has declared that an El Niño and a positive IOD are underway. The declaration of these events, and their concurrence over spring, reinforces the Bureau’s long-range rainfall and temperature forecasts, which continue to predict warmer and drier conditions for much of Australia over the next three months. The confirmation of an established El Niño increases the likelihood that the event will be sustained through the summer period. Models indicate further warming of the central to eastern Pacific is likely and that this El Niño is likely to persist until at least the end of February. El Niño typically leads to reduced spring and early summer rainfall for eastern Australia, and warmer days for the southern two-thirds of the country.
- Buyers are encouraged to feed test and view fodder before purchase to be sure of the quality of feed.