The sheep trade is starting the week in unsteady waters, with factory prices either falling, or potentially set to fall further into the week as they look to stir the pot once again and pull the trade back in their favour.
The first sight of this turn in the trade came last week when Kildare Chilling knocked 10c/kg off its base price for lambs.
At the same time, a western-based factory wiped 5c/kg off its base prices for lambs and another said that up to 10c/kg could be coming off its base price for lambs soon.
Sheep trade
Looking at quotes on offer for today (Monday December 5), Kildare Chilling is holding its base price from late last week at €6.40/kg plus a 10c/kg quality assurance (QA) bonus up to 22kg.
Irish Country Meats is also remaining on a base price of €6.40/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus up to 22.5kg.
A western-based meat processing plant has pulled another 5c/kg off its base price from late last week, at the start of this week, to stand at €6.35/kg.
This is leaving base prices at €6.35/kg up to €6.40/kg, with QA lambs moving at prices around €6.50/kg.
Prices at the top end of the market are still reaching €6.70-6.80/kg but this is likely to change if factories inflict further pulls in prices.
One procurement manager told Agriland that demand out the other end has slowed up again and that supplies of finished lambs are creeping up once more.
The ewe trade is unchanged however. Base prices are ranging from €3.00/kg up to €3.20/kg, with top prices reaching €3.60-3.70/kg.