YARDINGS recovered in Queensland but were well back in southern states last week.
Flooding rain across Victoria and southern NSW has played havoc with transport and markets.
Still, nationally, supply was at it highest since mid-June and prices were firm to dearer for trade and medium steers and cows, according to Meat and Livestock Australia.
The Eastern States Young Cattle Indicator closed firm at 363.50c/kg on Monday.
Demand for export beef was also steady, with orders from Japan, Russia and Indonesia picking up and total exports for August lifting 5 per cent year-on-year.
But while export orders are returning to the market, the high Australian dollar (hovering around US91c at the beginning of the week) continues to squeeze export returns, MLA cautioned.
While widespread flooding across Victoria will leave many producers in clean-up mode for several weeks, the outlook for spring is still positive.
As such, Victorian restockers bought 39 per cent more cows and 5 per cent more yearling heifers over the winter months to rebuild herd numbers, MLA reported.
At Ballarat on Monday, just 68 head (94 fewer than at the previous small sale) made it to market due to flooding across the drawing and restricted access to the saleyards.
Restockers bought most of the young cattle and processors bought the few finished 2 and 3 scores, the National Livestock Reporting Service noted.
Prices were generally similar to last week with processors paying from 165c to 185c/kg for C2 and C3 yearlings, restockers paying to 210c/kg and lotfeeders to 167c/kg for D2 yearlings.
Grown steers and heifers gained 8-10c/kg for the C3 and C4 grades while the handful of heavy weight cows sold to trends 10c/kg dearer.
At Pakenham, also on Monday, heavy rain led to a smaller yarding of 739 cattle (340 fewer).
With the knowledge that supplies could be tight for the remainder of the week, buyers competed strongly but prices were effectively firm when considering the improvement in quality, the NLRS noted.
Light and medium weight vealers sold to best competition with the top B-muscle vealers fetching 208-232c/kg.
The large offering of supplementary-fed cattle sold to rates 5c/kg cheaper at the top end, however these cattle were heavier than last week and still managed a top price of 235c/kg.
