Up to €70 over paid as prices recover
There has been an improvement in the trade in France, and smaller volumes of Irish lamb on the market have been selling at improved prices over the past week, which has given the trade a badly needed boost.
At the marts, the trade has been described this week as firm to excellent, with up to €70 over paid by butchers for lambs, and factory agents paying up to €50 over.
There were 900 head on offer at Fermoy on Monday, for the last sheep sale at the old mart, before the move to the new centre at Rathcormac. Prices ranged from €43 to 70 over for butcher’s lambs, and the factory lots made €40 to 50 over.
There will be no sheep sale next Monday at Rathcormac, the first sale at the new centre will be a cattle and sheep sale next Tuesday. The sheep sale will revert to Monday on subsequent weeks.
There were 750 head on offer at Kilkenny, where the butcher’s lambs made €42 to 54 over, and the factory lots sold for €35 to 44 over.
The trade at the factories opened positively on Monday, with a base price of 440 cents/kg (157p/lb) being quoted, an increase of 5 to 10 cents/kg from the same day last week.
These prices were maintained for Tuesday, with no early indication of change for the remainder of the week.
The weekly intake of lambs at the factories is more than 20% down on this time last year, and demand is up.
In Britain, the number of lambs coming to the market has been increasing, but the extra supply has not put pressure on prices, which improved to the equivalent of 496 cents/kg, inclusive of VAT.
Demand is picking up in France, where small volumes of Irish lamb on the market are fetching improved prices of 470 to 490 cents/kg.
