Prime lamb prices continue to firm during winter, hitting $6 a kg last month, as supply dwindled and markets remained strong.
An Agribusiness review of New Zealand and Australia by specialist rural banker Rabobank says winter lamb prices were 35% to 40% higher than for the same period last year, with prices lifting 15c to 18c a kg, or 3%, in June alone.
The effect of reduced supply was also dramatic, the Rabobank report stating the lamb kill to June was 35% down on last year and the June mutton kill only 30% of what it was last year.
Monthly export volumes continue to lag behind last year's, although they were above 2007 levels.
May volumes were 9% lower than May last year.
Export volumes to the United Kingdom for the year to May were 7% lower and to the United States 16% down.
China has become a more important lamb-buying customer, with the volume up 2000 tonnes, or 71%.
The report said total export values in the year to May were up 13% or $36 million, compared with a year ago.
Beef prices in the US last month were 28% lower than for the same period a year earlier, but the slaughter of 101,000 dairy cows has had little effect on import volumes.
The Australian cow and heifer slaughter for May was 365,000, its lowest May kill since 2004 and the first time this year the kill has fallen below the five-year monthly average.
Weaker US beef prices mean New Zealand prices have not firmed as usual over winter, with South Island bull beef prices 14% below the same time last year and North Island prices 8% lower.
The total beef kill was expected to be similar to last year's, according to Rabobank, but the total export value was expected to be 15% or $30 million higher than last year.
A stronger New Zealand dollar forced dairy prices lower in June following a strong export month in May, with volumes 74% higher than May last year and 21% higher than May 2007.
Exports of whole milk and skim milk powder and butter remained strong.
Internationally, dairy markets "appeared increasingly precarious as June turned to July."
Premium prices for whole milk over skim milk powder and butter apparent in May disappeared, while international demand for dairy products remained weak.
Milk production has not fallen in tandem with weaker prices.
Market stability is coming from intervention buying from the northern hemisphere and purchases by China.
Venison prices were static during June, at levels 10% higher than the same time last year, but a fall in export volume during May mirrored the decline in export value.