Lamb sell-off
With prices ranging from 331 back to 328 cent/kg (118p to 117p/lb), there is a plentiful supply of lambs available to the factories, as more producers give up hopes of an improvement in the pre-Christmas trade.
The trade in the marts has been steady for butchers and factory lambs, with stores a little dearer at some of the sales last Monday.
The supply of lambs to the factories has come closer to last year’s level recently, but is still about 7,000 head per week less than the same week last year.
This has eased any pressure on the factories to increase prices for the pre-Christmas supplies.
In turn, producers who had been holding back decided to sell.
In Britain, supplies have also been increasing, which has led to pressure on prices. Prices fell by the equivalent of about 15 cents/kg at the end of last week, to the equivalent of 349 cents/kg (124p/lb) with a further increase in supplies this week expected to put further pressure on pre-Christmas prices.
The trade has remained steady in France, where Irish lamb is selling for up to 360 cents/kg (128p/lb).
Supplies of UK lamb going on to the market are costing the same as Irish lamb, but there are plentiful supplies of legs of lamb on the market in France from New Zealand at competitive prices.
