Sheep Industry News July 2024

$107.72 per cwt. per month higher than last year. As demand is working from the consumer side backwards toward produc ers, prices have been positive this year for those producers. The current price levels through this year are the highest since 2022, thus, hopefully this is creating profitability at the farm level for producers. TRADE With higher prices, the natural question is based around trade, and how much lamb product we are importing. Historically, the United States imports the most volume each year during the March and April holiday months. The most recent reports indicate that in April, the U.S. import ed 25.8 million pounds, which was down compared to the previ ous month of 27.1 million pounds. Total imports for the year, so far, are at approximately 97 million pounds, with a monthly average of 24.2 million pounds per month. In comparison, this year’s totals are above last year’s total at this time – 74.5 million pounds – and the previous five-year average of 80.4 million pounds. Similarly to other parts of the market, imports historically hold steady through the summer months into the fall, thus, unless something unexpected happens, imports should remain at these same monthly levels.

From an export standpoint, the U.S. exported 173.9 metric tons – $1 million in value – of lamb in April, which valued at the same and is 20.3 metric tons higher than a year ago. In total, the U.S. has exported 769.7 metric tons this year, which is lower than last year’s 828.5 metric tons. WOOL May is a busy time in the American wool market with most wool warehouses hosting annual sales. Domestic prices were pub lished by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for three consecu tive weeks in May compared to only one week a year ago. Prices were below a year ago across all microns, with finer mi crons averaging higher than coarser wools. Wool sold on a clean basis in May averaged $2.74 per lb. (microns 20 to 23) compared to $3.38 per lb. last year and averaged about 44 percent higher than wool sold on a grease basis. The international wool market has had neutral signals throughout the first part of the year. At the start of January, the Australian Eastern Market Indicator was at $3.70 U.S. per lb. and decreased to $3.38 U.S. per lb. by the end of March, to only then increase and oscillate around $3.42 U.S. per lb. in May. In the first part of June, the EMI was at $3.48 U.S. per lb. Across all microns, prices have steadily increased in the last few

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July 2024 • Sheep Industry News • 7