AN oversupply of livestock temporarily brought meat prices down for consumers, but if the drought lingers, they may just see the opposite.
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Bathurst's farmers continue to sell their livestock as severe rainfall deficits in the region endure, supplying abattoirs with masses of product.
Mountain Meats owner Paul Smith says meat prices are constantly changing, but the drought brought prices down.
"It's the oversupply that we got from farmers moving their cows to feedlots that caused a price reduction," he said.
Bathurst is officially more than 50 millimetres above its average rainfall to April, but it comes after a dry 2018 for the region.
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The state of the season is linked with rising and falling costs for livestock producers and retailers, which flows on to consumers.
"We had a big price rise before the drought, so it's a bit of a catch-22," Mr Smith said. "It even went up last week."
While farmers destock in the face of the drought, Mr Smith has seen the law of supply and demand affect meat prices heavily over the past year.
"A T-bone steak used to be around $12-15 per kilo wholesale and in the middle of the drought it fell to $10-12 per kilo," he said.
But another Bathurst butcher, Steve Hill, says the cost of independently selling meat in Bathurst has gone through the roof.
Mr Hill, the owner of Steve's Quality Meats, has found the cost of buying quality meat is higher because the drought makes animals stressed and he has seen prices rise consistently in the 21 years he has run his shop.
"The body of meat was costing me $400-500 back then and today is costing me $1500-1700," he said.
Consumers absorb price rises while also reaping the benefits of cheaper products and with increasing climate vulnerability, they may see more significant market changes, and more often.
"We're not the bad guys; we're just trying to make a living and try to be fair with the public," Mr Hill said.
The Bureau of Meteorology says there is a chance an El Nino could develop in autumn, which would increase the chance of drier conditions in Australia's south and east.