Agsafe Weekly Rural Report

Finance:  The NZ dollar was steady through the week.  Brent Crude is at a level  that we should see some easing of fuel prices.

Wool:  Wool prices remain in the doldrums.    You can’t even eat it!!

Beef, Sheep & Venison schedules: The meat schedules are trending upwards.  There is good demand for red meats from all our trading partners but it has not yet been converted into increases in the schedules.  The lamb kill is expected to be down by 1 million  lambs and the drop is quite rightly blamed on the growth in the tree planting and the chasing of the ETS.

Dairy Prices  The g/DT lifted 5.5% which was a massive turn around.  WMP is up 7.2% to $US3492/tn and SMP is up 4% to $US2636/tn.  Cheddar was up 3.7%.  It was an excellent result.