Farmers with factory-fit hoggets are being urged to “sell hard” to capitalise on the current prices in the hogget trade.
Prices at sheep marts across the country for heavy hoggets are now regularly clearing €200/head, and the quotes from factories are surpassing €8/kg.
The sheep chair of the Irish Farmer’s Association (IFA), Adrian Gallagher said demand for sheep meat is intensifying every week against a backdrop of tight supplies.
Gallagher said sheep farmers should “sell hard given the very strong and rising markets”.
He said factories are struggling to match supplies with demand for the upcoming Easter and Ramadan festivals, which are major annual events for sheep meat demand.
Both festivals falling in the month of March has intensified the pressure on factories to service key customers in the coming weeks.
Gallagher said: “Prices this week are ranging from €8.10/kg to €8.30/kg in general, with up to €8.50/kg paid to weights of 24kg. Cull ewes are making from €3.30/kg to €3.70/kg in general.”
The IFA sheep chair added “this demand is also reflected in our key markets, with UK sheep meat prices rising by 30p/kg”.
Hogget trade update
Kildare Chilling has risen its offering for hoggets by €1/kg since February 12, less than a month ago.
Today (Thursday, March 7), this outlet is quoting €8.00/kg plus a quality assured (QA) bonus of 10c/kg up to 23kg – a total of €8.10/kg and a 10c/kg rise since Monday.
Thy are now quoting €1.80/kg more than they were for hoggets a year ago.
On a 23kg carcass, this €1.80/kg rise represents an extra €41.40/head than what farmers were receiving 12-months-ago.
A factory procurement manager told Agriland that currently in the hogget trade, “demand is good and the supply is half-decent”.
They added that many of the sheep coming into the factories lately are store lambs that were bought, and that these farmers who bought the stores are now bringing in a “scatter of heavy and a scatter or light” weight hoggets.
They said this particular trend “seems to be the way this time of year”.