The British liveweight lamb trade has continued to move higher in the past week as higher demand in the build up to Easter has been more than enough to overcome higher numbers coming to market.
According to the ADHB, in the week ended March 9 the British liveweight prices rose by 2p to reach 189.3p/kg.
However, it says the difference compared to the same week in 2015 increased to 9p below.
The AHDB says prices were up as the Easter procurement drive began, while the value of the pound remains weaker than the same period last year.
Throughputs at GB auction markets continued to rise compared to the previous week, up 7%.
However, the AHDB says they remain 6% below levels seen during the same period in 2015 despite Easter this year falling a week earlier than in 2015.
Factory trade
Following two weeks of falling deadweight prices the deadweight market strengthened in the past week, according to the AHDB data.
It says in the week ended March 5 the deadweight SQQ was up by 2p compared to the previous week at 423.2p/kg. However, prices remained 14p/kg below levels during the same week in 2015. Estimated slaughterings in the week were level with the previous week but remained higher than in 2015.
The AHDB also says cull ewe slaughterings in the week were at the same level as the same period last year, this follows higher year-on-year slaughterings in every other week in 2016.