No Christmas bonus for disappointed sellers
The Christmas trade for lambs was most disappointing to producers who had hoped for a push in prices to meet seasonal demand, which did not materialise.
Producers who had held back lambs in the expectation of an improvement in the trade in the run up to Christmas ended up instead adding to the downward pressure on prices, as they off-loaded stock in the weeks immediately before Christmas, allowing the processors to cut prices as supplies came easily.
For most of the year, the strength of the home trade was the underpinning factor in lamb prices, with competition in the French market keeping pressure on price for exports to the continental markets.
For the year as a whole, producers finished fewer lambs and took a lower average price. Production was down by more than 4%, and the average price paid for lambs was down by 4% on 2002, at 366 cents/kg (131p/lb), compared to 381 cents/kg (136p/lb) for 2002. It was the second consecutive year of a fall in returns for producers, who had benefited from the FMD restrictions in Britain in 2001.
The drop in supplies of lambs to the export plants at 4.3% was similar for the cull ewes and rams.
Lamb production in Northern Ireland was also down by 4% for the year, with supplies in Britain back by 1%.
