New lambing data is forecasting a six-point-five percent drop in exports this season

A Beef and Lamb New Zealand report indicates 1.1 million head were tailed this year, a five-point-two percent decrease on 2023.

Overall lamb export processing is also expected to be down 11 percent in the three months to Christmas.

Beef and Lamb chair Kate Acland says Australia is also forecasting lower export numbers.

She says the result of these lower numbers will hopefully mean an uptick in prices, and farmgate prices are already ahead of last year.