Lamb quotes at the start of this week have fallen below that of the same week this time last year.
Agriland took a look back on this time last year to see how sheep prices were performing. At the time, they were on an upward trajectory.
Currently, a year later, base prices at the start of this week across factories are standing at €6.00/kg.
During the same week last year, base quotes across factories ranged from €6.05-6.20/kg.
The trade this time last year was in the midst of an upturn, with prices gradually rising week-on-week which continued for the rest of the month and into November.
Rather than seeing an upward movement in prices this year, last week saw base prices fall by up to 20c/kg after a period of prices remaining static throughout September into the beginning of October.
The big difference between this year and last year is obviously the increase in production costs in 2022 which farmers have had to come to deal with and incur.
However, comparing ewe prices from now to last year, there’s no change; base prices for both weeks in 2021 and 2022 stand at €2.90-3.00/kg.
Stay tuned for this week’s sheep trade update for the latest on lamb and ewe prices.