YOUNG cattle prices have started to kick up again, with agents reporting the turnaround has been the combination of vendors holding back stock in response to the big dip of the past month and restockers with a bit of nerve grabbing arguably one of the better bargains going this year.
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The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator has jumped a solid 57 cents a kilogram carcase weight in the past week and now sits only 23c below where it was this time last year.
At the bottom of the recent plunge, it was 107c behind last year.
Most agents seem to be of the opinion supply was the dominating factor, with paddocks in many cattle-producing areas boasting pretty good feed for this time of year meaning no one's hand is forced at the moment.
Victorian agent Nick Gray, Elders Ballarat, said supply had really tightened in the past fortnight and the line-up this week was about half what would be expected at this time of the year.
"We've been through a period where the job has been so good that everything that needed to be sold was. Nobody has cattle that have to go right now and people can afford to sit on them for a bit," he said.
"While there's not huge amounts of feed about, we are on the doorstep of spring and it won't be long until there is, so there really is no immediate pressure to sell at all.
"The buying side has probably been a bit hit and miss with the risk of foot and mouth disease making a lot of people more cautious."
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Queensland agent Phillip Avery, TopX at Cloncurry, said supply in the north had also dwindled on the back of the downturn in the market, but demand was still pretty solid.
"One bit of light is there has been some live export interest starting to show up again - every ship out of the country at the moment is good news," he said.
Senior market information analyst at Meat & Livestock Australia Ripley Atkinson said cattle prices had rallied across all categories in the past week.
Solid rainfall across most regions tightened supply significantly, with national yardings last week falling by 3,358 head or 14 per cent week-on-week, he said.
Better finished cattle were now demanding strong buyer attention across most saleyards.
Mecardo's Adrian Ladaniwskyj pointed out EYCI-eligible yardings were now at the lowest they've been in months, even including weeks where severe weather kept stock out of key saleyards in early July.
"It's not isolated to young cattle either, with cow volumes tracking at only 1052 head, a level that is more than 70pc down on the peak seen in late July, when the price falls were at their worst," he said.
This kind of dip in supply was definitely not in line with any normal seasonal trends and wasn't sustainable in the long term, he said.