Lamb Price, New Zealand (Monthly)

## What this measures

The monthly average price of New Zealand frozen lamb flaps, c.i.f. China imported, from January 2020 (US and UK wholesale grades earlier), in US dollars per kilogram. It comes from the World Bank's Commodity Price Data (the Pink Sheet), which runs from 1960 or the series' first year. Each point is dated the first of its month.

## Why it matters

Lamb is a large New Zealand and Australian export and China is now its main buyer, so the price reads Chinese import demand for meat.

## How to read it

Higher means the commodity costs more. Prices are in nominal US dollars, not adjusted for inflation, so compare with the series' own history and with the change from a year earlier. Each point is a monthly average, so it is smoother than daily quotes and trails fast moves by a few weeks.

## What it does not say

It is one benchmark grade at one delivery point, not what every buyer pays: local prices add freight, duties and currency moves. The reference grade or delivery point has changed over time (see What this measures), so very long comparisons mix slightly different products. The latest months can be World Bank estimates that are replaced when source data arrive. Palanor does not fill or smooth any month.

## Source

World Bank, Commodity Price Data (The Pink Sheet), monthly prices in nominal US dollars, file CMO-Historical-Data-Monthly.xlsx from worldbank.org/en/research/commodity-markets. Licensed CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Data Catalog, dataset 0038238, "Commodity Prices - History and Projections"). Attribution: Source: World Bank Commodity Price Data (The Pink Sheet). The World Bank compiles the monthly averages from third-party quotations it names for each series (exchanges, industry bodies and data vendors). Not endorsed by the World Bank. Refreshed daily by /api/cron/commodity-prices-sync; the World Bank updates the file on the second business day of each month.