Easter boost for spring lamb and hogget prices
Most of the gains over the past week in prices for both the spring lambs and the hoggets was maintained for the re-opening prices for this week, but without the guarantee that they would be held beyond mid-week.
Up to 537 cents/kg (192p/lb) was on offer as a base price for the spring lambs at the factories on Tuesday, with most of the processors who were buying spring lamb offering 532 cents/kg (190p/lb) for supplies, which continue to be scarce. The improvement in the hogget prices for last week was being maintained also on Tuesday, with the base prices ranging from 403 back to 386 cents/kg (144p-138p/lb), but these prices are under threat from any increase in supply of either the hoggets or the spring lamb.
Hogget numbers on offer to the factories last week were well back of the supply expected after the completion of retention.
The lamb trade in the marts continued very strong on Monday. At Fermoy Mart, up to €125/head was paid for the tops, which sold for up to e81 over e1/kg, with prices ranging back to €50 over. Hoggets sold from €28 to €48 over €1/kg .
There was an even stronger trade at Athenry on Monday, where up to €136/head or €92 over €1/kg was paid for spring lambs, an improvement of €7-10/head on the previous week, with some spring lamb selling for up to €3/kg (liveweight). Hoggets traded strongly, from €30 over to €47 over.
