Factory demand for hoggets has strengthened somewhat over recent days and quotes have improved by 20c/kg in many plants.
The Irish Country Meats’ sister plants – located in Navan and Camolin – are now working off a base price of 600c/kg for hoggets – up 20c/kg on last week’s offering.
In addition, buyers in Kildare Chilling have seen fit to up the ante and are currently offering 610c/kg to pull numbers through the gates.
Meanwhile, Kepak Athleague has opted to hold prices at last week’s levels and are starting negotiations with farmers at 590c/kg.
Although throughput numbers remain relatively small, more processors are now becoming active on the spring lamb front. Quotes are starting at 690c/kg (excluding Quality Assurance bonuses), while some butchers are willing to pay 720c/kg in order to meet market demand.
Some improvement has also been witnessed in the ewe market; quotes are ranging from 300c/kg up to 310c/kg this week. Some 58,404 sheep were slaughtered in Department of Agriculture approved sheepmeat export plants during the week ending April 1 – an increase of 3,582 head or 6.5% on the previous week.
The increase in the total kill was largely driven by rising hogget and cast (ewe and ram) slaughterings, which jumped by 3.9% and 31% respectively.
However, a decline was witnessed when it came to spring lamb throughput and numbers were back by 169 head or 8.7% when compared to the week ending March 25.
Since the beginning of the year, some 664,714 sheep were slaughtered in approved plants – a rise of 33,035 head or 5% on the number witnessed during 2017.
Increases were witnessed in all of the major categories. Hogget throughput stands at 561,231 head (+17,481 head), spring lamb numbers are up by 2,498 head and cast throughput is up by 13,407 head or 16%.
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