Butchers pay up to €45 over

AS IN the beef sector, lamb producers are finding it hard to be cheerful about prices on offer, which continued to disappoint as the New Year got under way.

Although supplies of lambs appear to be tight, this is not reflected in what processors were willing to quote for lambs this week.

However, a hard sell policy by some sheep farmers has been successful in extracting returns above the officially quoted prices.

The best base price on offer on Tuesday was at Kepak at Hacketstown, where they quoted 350 cents/kg (125p/lb), slightly ahead of Kildare and Ballyhaunis, and 5 cents/kg ahead of the ICM plants at Camolin and Navan. IFA sheep committee chairman Henry Burns said some processors had paid up to 365 cents/kg (130p/lb) in an effort to get lambs, due to the tight supply.

There were some hopeful signs from the live trade, as mart sales returned this week. There was a small entry of 450 head on offer at Corrin Mart (Fermoy) on Monday, where the trade was reported to be “good”, with butchers paying up to €45 over for good quality lambs.

Prices for butchers lambs ranged from €83 to €99 per head, which was equivalent to €30 to €45 over.

Factory lambs made €50 to €74 per head, which worked out at €18 to €32 over.