Nationally, slaughter numbers for the week ended Saturday, March 5 were down 15 percent. However individual states fared much worse, with Queensland 25 percent lower than the previous week.
Beef Central reports that direct and indirect effects across eastern Australia continue, with commodities like cardboard packaging materials in very short supply due to flooding at a key factory. Containers are also again in very short supply, and road closures continue to impact cattle and materials supply.
The Port of Brisbane, shut from Saturday to Thursday last week due to sunken obstructions in the Brisbane River, is re-opening in stages, but not yet back to full capacity.
Processors said this week's slaughter was not were not likely to make up the deficit from last week’s closures, because labor is not immediately available to have larger shifts. It could take several weeks to clear the backlog, one large multi-site processor said.
