Prices for lamb begin to stabilize

While lamb prices have taken a battering over the past six weeks, the average return to the end of June has been within 3% of the same period last year, during which lamb prices overall were strong.

Returns to the end of June show that producers received an average of 398 cent/kg (142p/lb) compared to 413 cent/kg (147p/lb) for the first half of 2002 and 446 cent/kg (159p/lb) for the first half of 2001, which was the best year on record.

First-half prices for 2003 have remained well ahead of the same period during the difficult years of the late Nineties in 1999, producers took an average of 291 cent/k.g (104p/lb) for January-June.