Key Takeaways:

Imports supply 70–75 percent of U.S. lamb disappearance, with Australia and New Zealand accounting for nearly all imported volume. The deficit is structural, not cyclical: domestic production cannot scale quickly enough to displace imports or reset the market’s reference price. Freight and exchange rates function as pricing variables because imported lamb travels long distances and is priced across AUD, NZD, and USD currency relationships. Carcass consistency reinforces import dependence: U.S. lamb retains important quality advantages, but rising domestic variability weakens buyer confidence in uniform supply. The U.S. lamb market is short domestic production and long freight, FX, and Oceania climate risk.

The U...