Prices farmers are getting from factories today (Monday, July 24) for spring lamb are now €1/kg less than they were receiving last month (June 26).
Prices have been steadily decreasing over the last number of weeks, with price drops as high as 45c/kg for spring lamb being reported in the space of a week.
Sean McNamara, sheep chair of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) spoke to Agriland about the prices farmers would receive for a spring lamb, saying the farmers have lost up to €11/lamb over the course of a week.
He said: “It’s all over, farmers are not going to produce lamb anymore, that’s it.”
McNamara said the input costs increasing for sheep farmers means that the current prices in the sheep trade are resulting in farmers not profiting in the sector.
He said: “Factories have their margin, everyone has their margin, but farmers have no margin, and that’s where the trouble lies.
“[Lamb] went up €2 in the supermarkets last week, so the cheapest you can buy lamb now is €19.50/kg.”
With some factories reporting that lambs are coming in under finished, McNamara was quick to say why he feels this was happening.
“People are keen to offload them as they can’t afford to keep them on meal. You’re losing money as it is, there’s no point in losing any more,” McNamara said.
“We don’t want a handout, we want a fair price for our product, that’s it.”
Sheep trade – hoggets
Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €5.80/kg plus a QA bonus of 20c up to 23kg for hoggets, a total of €6.00/kg.
Kildare Chilling is offering the same price for a hogget ewe as it is for a cull ewe this week, which is €2.70/kg plus a 10c/kg Quality Assurance (QA) bonus to 40kg, a total of €2.80/kg.
Spring lamb
Kildare Chilling has quoted €6.70/kg plus a 10c QA bonus up to 21kg, a total of €6.80/kg up to a 21kg carcass weight, the price decreasing by 30c/kg since last week.
ICM is offering €6.50/kg plus a 20c QA bonus, bringing its offering to €6.70/kg up to a 21kg carcass weight for a spring lamb, the price dropping by 40c/kg since last week.
Other outlets have offered €6.50/kg plus a QA bonus of 15c/kg, a total of €6.65/kg for a spring lamb, which showed this particular outlet dropping its price by 45c/kg in the last week.
Cull ewes
Kildare Chilling is quoting €2.70/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus up to 40kg carcass weight, offering a total of €2.80/kg for a ewe this week, reducing its price by 20c/kg since last week.
ICM has maintained its price at €2.90/kg up to 45kg, with other outlets offering €2.80/kg for a cull ewe.