Sheepmeat market report: Up to €6.20 all-in offered for first of spring lambs
A base price of 600 cents/kg plus the bonus for quality has been offered by most processors this week for the first of the new season crop, which are still very scarce, and likely to be so for some weeks yet.
Prices offered range from a base of 580 cents/kg plus quality bonus to an all-in 620 cents/kg, so the middle road for the first of the spring lambs is set to be around €6/kg.
Most of the supply will consist of hoggets for some weeks yet.
Prices on offer for hoggets are broadly unchanged, quoted at 490-495 cents/kg plus the usual bonus of 5-10 cents/kg for quality.
Some choice prices were paid for butchers’ lambs on Monday at Corrin Mart, where 50kg sold for €138, a pen of nine averaging 57kg made €131 each, and a pen of 14 averaged 54 kg, and made €122 each.
The more general run of the trade for butchers’ lambs was back to a base of €52 over.
There was a small sale of 360 head on Monday at Kilkenny Mart, where the trade was described as solid. Butchers paid up to €55 over and factory lots sold for up to €52 over.
In Britain, there was some slowdown in supplies last week, although cumulative throughputs are 5% higher year-on-year compared to 2016.
The slowdown has helped prices.Lambs were making the equivalent of 463 cents/kg last week.
In France, there was little change in the market despite lower supplies.
Grade 1 Irish lamb made around 473 cents/kg (including VAT).
