This week’s sheep trade sees factory price offerings for lambs continue on a note of positivity on the approach to the new year.
Higher price rates are becoming more widely available at outlets around the country and most processors will be killing four days this week.
At the higher-end of the price scale, sources have said up to €9.10/kg is available for lambs but tops of €8.80/kg appear to be more common this week.
Most outlets are paying up to 23.5kg carcass weight. Up to €4.70/kg is available for well-fleshed, heavy ewes.
Most marts remain closed for the Christmas and New Year period and reopen from Monday, January 6 onwards.
As of today (Monday, December 30), Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €8.50/kg plus a 20c/kg Quality Assurance (QA) bonus leaving €8.70/kg on offer for lambs here. The same processor is quoting €4.40/kg for ewes.
Kildare Chilling is quoting €8.60/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus leaving €8.70/kg on offer here. The same outlet is quoting €4.20/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for ewes leaving €4.30/kg on offer here.
Sheep trade and supply outlook
This year saw tight supplies of Irish sheep for processing throughout the year and several factors contributed to this including a smaller carry-over of hoggets for processing in the early months of the year, fewer breeding ewes, poor weather conditions during peak lambing season and a decline in the number of hoggets and lambs being imported from Northern Ireland for direct slaughter.
The latest available CSO data shows that Irish sheep-meat exports were back 22% in volume in the first nine months of the year.
While the overall volume of Irish sheep-meat exports declined in 2024, the unit price/kg increased by around 18% compared to 2023, according to Bord Bia.
Bord Bia has forecasted supplies of sheep for processing to remain subdued across Europe in the short term “due to the contraction in the breeding ewe flock”.
Bord Bia’s sheep meat sector manager, Seamus McMenamin said: “While this tighter supply dynamic supports higher deadweight prices, it creates challenges when securing market returns for Irish lamb.
“Consumers in Europe continue to be highly price sensitive, and the European Commission is forecasting a 1% decrease in lamb consumption for 2025.”