New Zealand lamb exports are running well ahead of last year, including to China where the lamb trade is continuing to increase despite the labelling and certification hiccups of the past few months.
NZX Agrifax market analyst Ivan Luketina says the latest export figures show New Zealand shipped more than 22,000 tonnes of lamb in July, the highest volume for the month since 2009.
That brings the total for the season to date to 281,700 tonnes, which is 24% higher than at the same point last year and 9% above the five year average.
"In fact with two months data still to come, this season's total is already greater than the entire 12 months of last season," says Mr Luketina.
"The year on year increase in volumes clearly reflects the more favourable trading conditions this year, with no sign of significant volumes building up in storage."
Mr Luketina says despite the ongoing issues with New Zealand's trade into China, it was once again the largest market in July, accounting for 32% of total shipments.
Fonterra and Westland have revised their milk prices upwards and Fonterra's share price moved higher as further testing revealed no food safety issues with their product which had been previously linked to botulism.
Mr Luketina says Synlait dairy company shares are also up after its announcement that it will be processing more milk this year.
