Meat prices to fall as industry says lamb and cattle numbers peaking

A fifth generation butcher from Queanbeyan, NSW, Peter Lindbeck, said his prices would fall by 20 per cent in time for the Christmas lunch.

He said his cutlets were about 10 per cent cheaper than three months ago and they would continue to fall.

"Cutlets were selling for $70 a kilo a couple of months ago and now they're at $50. We will continue to see a fall in prices by Christmas," he said.

That comes after three years of good weather and good prices as the nation's beef herd and sheep flock have grown to their highest levels in about a decade.

According to Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), cattle prices have dropped about 60 per cent so far this year and sheep prices by 70 per cent.

Bungowannah beef farmer Andrew Watson said livestock prices had dropped by half within the last 12 months yet supermarket prices "haven't budged".

Mr Watson said the supermarkets could get away with upping prices during a cost of living crisis because "there's no competition".

"Prime lambs and prime steers have reduced by 50 per cent, but there has been no reduction at all from Coles and Woolies, and that's because we have a duopoly and no competition," Mr Watson said.

"Mince meat should be at four or five dollars a kilo but now they're are north of 10 dollars. There's no reason for that. They'll say supply chain issues and labor problems, it'll all nonsense and they're getting away with it."

Independent butchers were paying record prices for cattle during the La Nina years and Mr Lindbeck said the recent fall in livestock prices had given locals the chance to bounce back after years of record prices.

"They stayed high for years. They increased up to 120 per cent [and] a lot of butchers could not make any money at all," Mr Lindbeck said.

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"Now that the price has started to drop, everyone has started to drop their prices, but a few people are trying to hang onto the high prices."