Meat factories remain under fire this week as lamb prices continue to fall, spurring the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) into urging all sheep farmers to “resist any further price cuts”.
“There is no justification for these price cuts and the way processors are treating their suppliers is unacceptable,” said ICSA sheep chair, Sean McNamara.
Sheep farmers have lost out on €4 million over the last number of weeks he said.
“Lamb prices have been pulled sharply again and again in recent weeks. We’re now back €1/kg compared to where we were in the second week of July. That is around €21/head slashed from every lamb processed at the 21kg weight limit.
“With an average of 50,000 lambs processed/week, that’s €1.05 million denied to sheep farmers/week, or upwards of €4 million over the course of four weeks,” he said.
Sheep farmers, he said, cannot absorb that kind of hit.
“Inflation is hitting us hard and input costs have gone through the roof. The processors tell us that we are getting the same as last year, but what good is that to us? Last year’s prices are not enough to keep us in business this year. We cannot survive as a sector when we cannot cover our basic costs of production.”
Throughput edges up
Meanwhile, figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) show that 57,057 sheep were processed last week, an increase of 522 head from the week before.
Ewe and ram throughput witnessed an increase last week of 659 head, totalling 8,616 head.
However, the number of hoggets processed tallied 373, down 70 head on the previous week, and spring lamb supplies, at 48,067 head, were were down marginally on the previous week too.