General situation of the international lamb market in the first half of 2002

Introduction: in the first half of 2002, the supply of mutton in the international market decreased, leading to the rise of prices According to the Research Report of January 2002 issued by Uruguay wool Bureau, from January to May 2002, the export volume of Australian mutton reached 111700 tons, down 9.9% from the same period in 2001 Among them, the export of adult mutton was 65700 tons, down 15.4% from the same period in 2001 The export volume of lamb meat is 46000 tons, which is also 0.9% lower than that of the same period in 2001 In previous years, the United States was the largest buyer of Australian lamb, but in the first five months of 2002, the United States imported only 8300 tons of lamb from Australia, a decrease of 35.8% compared with the same period in 2001 Australia's mutton exports to South Africa also declined significantly In 2002, Australia exported 35000 tons of mutton to Africa, but the export situation was quite poor because the South African government increased the import tariff of mutton in 2002 In the first half of 2002, New Zealand mutton production declined As of June 20, the slaughter volume of New Zealand sheep was 15.8 million, a decrease of 1 million from 16.8 million in the same period in 2001 However, there is a strong demand for New Zealand mutton in the European market, which makes the price of New Zealand mutton keep rising By the end of June, the wholesale price of live sheep in New Zealand had passed the level of $1 / kg, and the export price of mutton was also rising steadily In the first five months of 2002, the export of Uruguayan mutton was only 3895t, 48.4% lower than that in the same period of 2001, and the foreign exchange income was 5.66 million US dollars Due to the shortage of mutton, the export price of Uruguayan mutton, especially the export price of refrigerated mutton, has increased rapidly The annual average export price of the best frozen mutton in 2001 is 1870 US dollars / T, and the average export price from January to May 2002 is 1949 US dollars / T However, the export price of frozen mutton with bone was lower than that of the same period in 2001 The United States is the world's leading importer of mutton In the first four months of 2002, the United States imported 29000 tons of mutton, an increase of 21.8% over the same period in 2001 Of the imported mutton, 65% is lamb Industry insiders predict that the total import volume of American mutton in 2002 will reach 73000 tons, an increase of 70000 tons compared with 66000 tons in 2001 The supply of mutton in the international market is obviously reduced, but the consumption of mutton is gradually increasing Experts believe that the price of mutton in the international market will go higher in the future.