A year of the NYCI: how has it performed?
04 June 2025
It’s been a year since MLA launched the National Young Cattle Indicator (NYCI) – but how has it performed over the last 12 months?
Firstly, let’s recap what the NYCI is. The NYCI covers mixed sex vealers, yearlings and weaner cattle over 200kg liveweight (lwt) which are traded as restocker animals. It’s a national indicator and the only one that uses more than one sales channel (saleyards and online) to provide broader coverage.
The Indicator follows the same structure as other MLA indicators, presenting prices on a seven-day rolling average, expressed in cents per kilogram liveweight (¢/kg lwt) and is rounded to two decimal points.
The NYCI is a useful tool as a forward-looking confidence measure for industry, as restocker prices provide a good benchmark for livestock prices overall.
Prices
On the day of release (6 May 2024), the NYCI was at 316¢/kg lwt. At the close of last week (30 May 2025), the indicator was sitting at a record of 389¢/kg lwt.
State-by-state breakdown of the Indicator’s current performance:
- NSW – 414¢/kg lwt – an all-time high
- Queensland – 378¢/kg lwt, buoyed by strong Roma Store sale prices
- Victoria – in September 2024 the indicator hit 420¢/kg lwt, driven by very tight supplies; at the close of last week, it was sitting at 385¢/kg lwt
- SA – peaked at 399¢/kg lwt at the beginning of May and has had a strong correction now at 300¢/kg lwt
- WA – 351¢/kg lwt, topping out so far for the year at 371¢/kg lwt in April
- Tasmania – sitting at 322¢/kg lwt.
Supply
National volumes through the NYCI have sat around 15,000 head to 22,000 head for most of the past year. However, in May supply kicked into gear, with volumes the highest the NYCI has seen at a peak of 36,000 head at the beginning of the month. The string of short weeks in April may have played a role, but the worsening drought in the southern states is likely the bigger driver.
NSW and Queensland online sales contribute the most to the NYCI. Supply in NSW for the past year has averaged around 7,000 head; however, supplies in May this year saw the indicator throughput lift to average 12,000 head.
In Victoria, supply has been averaging 1,500 head for the year-to-date, with online sales making up the majority. Comparing this supply to another of MLA’s indicators, the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI), where it has only captured some 700 head. The NYCI has allowed for a lot more supply and price transparency in Victoria.
