UPDATED 10:30AM: THE Eastern Young Cattle Indicator keeps on rising on its record breaking run, hitting 509 cents a kilogram (carcase weight) on Wednesday night.
Earlier this week, dearer markets right across the eastern states had forced the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator to peak at 507.5 cents a kilogram (carcase weight) on Tuesday afternoon.
Tuesday's record price was 3.75c/kg higher than the previous top set on Monday.
A reduction in the supply of yearling and vealers spurred on by rain in the past fortnight were the main motives for the dearer trend.
National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS) figures indicate all major Monday markets were at least 10c/kg dearer for young cattle.
Wagga Wagga's sale led the way with yearlings and vealers averaging 543c/kg, well above the current EYCI and indicating there's still room for the indicator to increase.
Riverina Livestock Agents director James Tierney, Wagga Wagga, described the market on Monday as "very expensive".
"There were no gaps in the market and everything was dearer right across the sale," he said.
"Who knows how much higher prices can go - that's anybody's guess."
Mr Tierney estimated the best of the cattle going to slaughter were making as much as 570c/kg early this week.
"We also saw a lot more activity from northern NSW restockers and the feeder type cattle were quite a bit dearer," he said.
"Although we dropped to 3750 head this week after yarding around the 5500 mark, Wagga is one of the few places in the state to still be offering decent numbers.
"My feeling is there's still some room for the little cattle to get dearer, particularly heifers.
"There's still a wide price gap between the steers and the heifers, meaning there's room for the female rates to lift a bit more."
Tuesday was even dearer than Monday at many centres.
Sales including Camperdown, Victoria; Wodonga, Vic; Shepparton, Vic; Gunnedah, NSW; Scone, NSW, and Warwick in Queensland, were at least 20c/kg dearer than the week before.
In fact, young cattle at both Carcoar and Wodonga averaged an outstanding 556c/kg helping to pull the EYCI higher.
Young cattle prices are now 21c/kg dearer than last month and 173.25c/kg higher than at the same time last year.
Mecardo analyst Augusto Semm-elroth predicted there could be more upside for young and finished cattle markets in the short-term.
He expected supply to tighten further.
"Restocker and lotfeeder interest is also expected to pick up as backgrounders look into buying more stock and lower feed grain prices allow feedlots to bid higher for store cattle," Mr Semmelroth said.
Helping spur on prices right across the state was the general improvement in quality, as rain last week reduced the supply of unfinished stock on the market.
Feeder steers sold in NSW continued to be the dearest across the eastern states, however NLRS reported Queensland, in part, closed the gap on Victoria, as greater numbers of restockers came out to compete against feeder buyers.
Over-the-hook prices in Queens-land were also steady this week.
Despite strong gains in the young cattle market, following good rain across eastern Australia, NLRS reported Queensland processors kept grid prices unchanged, as high numbers continue to come through to slaughter.
Across Queensland, 90,014 head of cattle were processed last week, up five per cent year-on-year and just the third time that more than 90,000 head were killed according to NLRS records dating back to 1990.
