Sheep trade: Tight supplies of finished lambs see factories increase base prices

The strong mart trade for finished lambs over the past week is starting to be reflected in factory prices, as base quotes for lambs increase by 10c/kg.

Mart managers have been quick to note the tightening of supplies of finished lambs, with a contact from one meat processing plant saying that they are keen to get a hold of lambs – as numbers continue to tighten – and that this was the reason behind the increase in base price.

Looking at the quotes on offer, Kildare Chilling is offering a base price of €5.20/kg plus a 10c/kg quality assurance (QA) bonus for lambs – which is an increase of 10c/kg in comparison to last week.

Irish Country Meats (ICM) is on a base price of €5.00/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus – which also represents a 10c/kg increase on last week. Once again, Kepak Athleague was not quoting for lambs or ewes on Monday (November 9).

At the lower end of the market, those handling small numbers are reportedly achieving deals of €5.10-5.20/kg, with some getting 5c/kg more in some cases.

Those involved in producer groups or handling large numbers are securing deals of between €5.30/kg and €5.40/kg, with deals also being done at €5.50/kg, reportedly.

The sheep chairperson of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Sean Dennehy, noted that the mart trade for fleshed lambs was outperforming factory prices in cases.

He also added that strong competition between factories for the tight supplies of finished lambs had pushed prices paid this past week on by 5-10c/kg.

Sean explained: “The trade is good at the moment. Prices of €5.30-5.40/kg are being regularly achieved for lambs at the moment, with some producers getting as much as €5.50/kg.

Supplies are tight and that, as you can imagine, is helping the trade of late. There is obviously a good demand out there for lamb and it’s great to see.

“The mart trade is also very strong at the moment, with heavy lambs making in excess of €125/head over the last week. Similarly, with the cull ewes, the demand is strong with heavy ewes making €110-125/head across marts.”

Throughput

For the week ending November 1, the sheep kill amassed to 51,828 head, which is a decrease of over 9,500 head from the week before.

The number of spring lambs processed decreased by 7,538 head and amounted to 43,617 head, for the week ending November 1. To date this year, 7% or 89,632 more lambs have been killed in comparison to the same period in 2019.

Cast (ewe and ram) supplies at the Department of Agriculture approved sheep export plants stood at 7,821 head – a decrease of 2,089 head – for the week ending November 1.

Cumulative figures for the year to date have reached 2,421,474 head, which is an increase of 110,424 head compared to the 2019 figure of 2,311,050 head.

Data source: Department of Agriculture