Farmers reeling after spring lamb prices slump below €5/kg

ONE very bad week in lamb prices was more than enough for farmers, but a second consecutive week of plummeting prices has left them reeling. They were hit with a cut of 40 cents/kg (15p/lb) this week.

Quoted base prices at the factories opened on Monday at 490 to 500 cents/kg (176 to 178p/lb), which was down 30 to 40 cent/kg from a week earlier.

Within 24 hours, the base price had come back to 490 cents at all of the processing plants for Tuesday’s kill, bringing the price for spring lamb below 500 cent for the first time in 2008.