Bank holiday slows lamb sales but demand holds steady

Base for lambs at the factories is 750–755c/kg, plus the bonus for quality assurance adding up to 20c/kg, depending on individual factory pricing.

After the downturn in the trade for lambs at the factories hitting prices last week, there is a continuing quiet tone to the market this week.

Processors are reporting markets are “sluggish” and returns have weakened on the back of a dip in consumer demand for lamb, which is being reflected at the factories this week.

There is still demand for lambs at the plants at the lower prices, and demand held steady for all lots at the live sales at the marts on Monday, where prices have eased slightly this week.

Base for lambs at the factories is 750–755c/kg, plus the bonus for quality assurance adding up to 20c/kg, depending on individual factory pricing.

Suppliers are negotiating with the factories for deals for larger numbers and regular supplies, securing up to 780c/kg, and in some cases reporting occasional tops of 785–790c/kg — not widely available this week, and hard to achieve except for very good-quality lambs.

Because of the bank holiday on Monday, there has been some disruption to the regular live sales, and some of the usual Monday marts were not held.

There was steady demand at Corrin Mart on Monday and a good clearance of the lots on offer.

Butchers paid up to €186 for a pen of 10 weighing 53kg at the top of the day’s trade. A pen of 12 weighing 51kg sold for €180, and a lot of 10 weighing 50kg made €177, while a lot of seven scaling in at 50kg sold for €170.