The average lamb/hogget price for the year to date has just been short of €7/kg, according to Seamus McMenamin of Bord Bia.
Seamus – who is a sheep and livestock sector manager with Bord Bia – was speaking on Wednesday evening (June 16) at a Bord Bia Sheep Farmer Webinar.
Touching on market conditions at present and what 2021 has been like so far, Seamus said: “There has been a notable decline in throughput for the year to date.
“The hogget kill is back significantly from last year, and that’s due to a smaller carryover of hoggets from 2020 – due to farmers marketing lambs earlier and at lighter weights as grass growing conditions were very favourable.
“On top of that, there’s been reduced imports of lambs from Northern Ireland – which are back around 35,000 head for the year to date.
“As well as that, spring lamb supplies have been fairly slow to come on stream. The poor weather, which resulted in poor grass growth is a factor behind that,” he continued.
“We are expecting a larger lamb crop this year and with that, we would expect throughput to increase over the coming months.
“For the year-to-date, lamb/hogget sheepmeat production is back 10% or 2,200t and ewe sheepmeat production is 7% less [or -225t].”
Average lamb/hogget price
The tight supplies so far this year have helped to keep prices strong, Seamus said.
Expanding on this point, he said: “A stable demand for sheepmeat has kept prices at exceptional levels for most of the year.
“Looking at previous years, prices are well up [as seen below]. The average lamb/hogget price for the year to date has just been short of €7/kg and during the same period last year, it was €5.42/kg.
“So that just emphasises the strength of the trade at this point in time.
“A couple of factors are feeding into this strong demand, such as the stable demand for sheepmeat both domestically and in key export markets, particularly in the EU, as there has been lower lamb availability due to lower production and lower imports, particularly from New Zealand.
“Supply and demand has really dictated the strength of the trade thus far,” he concluded.