In Australia, farmers began giving away sheep for free – Kommersant

Australian farmers are increasingly forced to slaughter sheep and sell the meat at ultra-low prices or give sheep for free to anyone so as not to spend money on their maintenance. The agency reports this Bloomberg. This situation is due to the fact that due to the excessive growth of the sheep population in the country, prices for lamb have fallen by 75% over the past year; in some places the purchase price of meat is just over $1 per 1 kg. The prices of the animals themselves have also fallen sharply: for one sheep, buyers give an average of $22, but there are often cases when a farmer is forced to sell a sheep for $1 or even cheaper.

There are also few people willing to take sheep, even for free: a drought is expected in Australia this year and problems with feeding animals will increase. It is mainly pet food manufacturers who are willing to buy sheep.

Australia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of lamb. In 2020–2002, weather conditions were favorable for population growth. Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), the independent Australian livestock industry regulator, estimates that the country’s sheep population has grown by 23% since 2020 and now exceeds 78.7 million, the highest level since 2007.

Even meat exports cannot help the situation. In October, according to MLA, the export volume exceeded 50.8 thousand tons in October, which became an absolute record. According to MLA experts, the situation with meat prices may begin to change this winter, and these changes will become clearly visible in mid-2024.

Alena Miklashevskaya