Moving on to the latest livestock prices, let’s first focus on Beef prices first. We’ve seen that weaner calf prices moved sideways to R35.76 per kilogram last week, with prices in the northern production areas like Mpumalanga dropping to R37. It appears that we may remain at current price levels this week, but seasonal trends suggest prices could trend strongly downwards from then until mid-April.
The A2/3 carcass price continues to decrease to R54.35, with the C-grade price lower at R47.65. It seems we may see higher slaughter prices with prices potentially trending upward in February and March.
The average feeder lamb price increased to R37.67 per kilogram last week, with a significant rise in the Eastern Cape to R38.50. Slaughter prices moved sideways with the A2/3 price at R83.59 and the C2/3 price at R58.98. This week, I want to look at how sheep prices may move over the next few months. Looking at the chart indicating index prices from 2020, we see that lamb prices tended to move upward over the first 6 to 7 months of the year, while the A2/3 price remained relatively stable in February and March and then starting to rise until July. However, comparing it with the period from 2010 to 2019, slaughter and lamb prices rose in February, as we are seeing now, but then fell again in March and April. Prices in March will undoubtedly indicate the trend, but my current feeling is that we can expect lower prices again in March and April, similar to what we saw from 2010 to 2019.
There was pressure on wool prices last week, with the latest RWS price now at R172.67 and the Non-RWS price lower at R151.07 per kilogram. The average price in Australia decreased by 1%, and while there is demand from China, the significant limiting factor keeping prices lower. There will also be considerably more supply in Australia over the next two weeks, and it will be interesting to see how demand responds.
As expected, poultry prices have again dropped over the last week, with the frozen price now at R36.35, fresh at R37.25, and the IQF price decreasing to R33.21. I feel we might expect slightly higher prices from here until the end of March.
Pork prices continue to decline over the past week, with baconer prices at R31.71, porker prices decreasing to R32.13, while the latest sausage pork price rises to R24.08 per kilogram. Unfortunately, there is still considerable downward potential for prices in February, March, and April, with baconer and porker prices possibly moving below the R30 mark.
Goat prices had mixed results, with large goat prices moving sideways to R38.68, small goats, however, rising to R58.64, while goat ewe prices rise to R41.75 per kilogram.
