Prices for lamb drop by 20 cent/kg

Marts: Lamb prices failed to recover any of the drop in prices earlier in the week in yesterday’s trading at the factories following a decline of up to 20 cent/kg (7p/lb) over three days.

It was hoped that the major promotion undertaken by Bord Bia at more than 1,000 retail outlets in France and Belgium would at least maintain the floor price for lambs in the short term, but the trend since Tuesday has dampened any confidence that was building up among producers.

With only a minority of the processors quoting for lambs yesterday the base price on offer to producers was 386 cent/kg (138p/lb) down from an opening price for the week of 406 cent/kg (145p/lb) on Monday last.