French demand helps to steady the lamb market

THERE has been very little change in prices for lambs at the factories from last week, with only minor adjustments each way in factory quotes.

Base prices ranged from 353 back to 347 cents/kg (126p to 124p/lb) for Tuesday’s kill, which was a few cents more than some of the factories offered last week, and a few cents less for others. In the marts on Monday, prices were steady at some of the sales while other dropped €2 to €4 per head, with the best demand for the butchers lambs.

In Britain, the stable market of the past few weeks has come to an end, and demand eased back through last week before making some recovery to close the week’s trading at the equivalent of 371 cents/kg (132p/lb), inclusive of VAT, following a drop in the supply of lambs.