The beginning of this week (Monday, February 12) has seen upward movement in the quotes from factories in the hogget trade, as prices have now crossed the €7/kg mark.
Base prices for hoggets this week from factories are now standing at between €6.75-€7/kg, with quality assured (QA) hoggets reaching €6.95-€7.10/kg.
So far in 2024, prices are ahead of last year, as base prices for hoggets twelve months ago ranged from €5.90/kg up to €6.00/kg.
Hogget and lamb prices
Kildare Chilling has increased it’s offering for hoggets/lambs by 20c/kg at the start of this week in the sheep trade, and provided a quote for farmers today (Monday, February 12) only, of €7/kg, plus a 10c QA bonus up to 23kg for hoggets/lambs, a total of €7.10/kg.
They are offering €5.00/kg for light hoggets/lambs under 16kg, or those that are grading from an O2 to P1.
Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €6.75/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus bringing its offering to €6.95/kg for a hogget, showing an increase of 10c/kg.
Other outlets have maintained their prices and are quoting €6.75/kg plus a 15c/kg QA bonus, bringing their price offerings up to €6.90/kg, and these are paying up to 23kg also.
Ewe prices
In it’s quotes for today only, Kildare Chilling has offered €2.90/kg plus a 10c QA bonus for ewes from 23kg to 35kg.
For ewes between 35kg to 43kg, Kildare Chilling offered farmers €3.10/kg plus a 10c QA bonus, a total of €3.20/kg for a better type ewe.
Ewes under 23kg and rams weighing up to 43kg are both being quoted at €2.20/kg by Kildare Chilling today.
ICM is offering €2.90/kg for fat ewes, which is an increase of 10c/kg since last week.
Other outlets have increased their quotes by 15c/kg and are offering €3/kg plus a 10c QA bonus for a ewe up to 35kg, a total of €3.10/kg.