New Zealand and Australian tallow prices are unchanged from last week. Interest from China, Singapore and the US remains strong. Eastern state slaughter was reported at 67,164 head last week. The Easter holiday has contributed to the quiet market in terms of volume as well as the low production numbers. Weather has also contributed to tight production with rain limiting the number of cattle heading to the abattoirs. A number of slaughter facilities were closed for the Easter holiday weekend and some for the week leading up to the holiday as beef cattle supply continues to run very tight. The NLRS reported the first quarter cattle slaughter as the lowest in the last 20 years.

The local US market has been quiet coming off of the long holiday weekend. Volatility in the soybean oil market continues to inject uncertainty into the fats market. Direction on products has been mixed, distillers corn oil (DCO) prices are off as much as $100/MT FOB plant from last week’s report….