Spring lamb costs up to €100 as butchers say Easter tradition may be priced out
Butcher Tom Durcan pictured holding a leg of lamb in front of his stall in Cork's English Market. Picture: Chani Anderson
Lamb may be off the table this Easter and beyond for many families due to soaring costs, according to butchers.
A number of businesses including butcher shops and restaurants have ceased offering lamb, an Easter tradition, in recent weeks.
Some say it’s no longer profitable, while others say customers can no longer afford unsustainable price hikes.
According to farmers, the demand for cull ewes at the marts is far beyond what is being supplied. Meanwhile, spring lambs are fetching as much as €9.90 per kilogram. Hogget prices have risen by as much as €9.50 per kilogram.
Spring lamb is born in December before being killed in time for the Easter market. A rise in animal feed costs and energy prices are having a significant impact on farmers who normally rear the animals indoors during the winter months.
Meanwhile, the price of beef which came in at about €5.18 per kg more than a year ago has now climbed to €7.77. Something has to give, according to those in the meat trade.
Helen O’Callaghan, who runs the Meat Centre in the English Market in Cork, is among those feeling the pinch this Easter. She recently ceased selling lamb over the counter.
"Spring lamb is frightful at the moment.
"People are getting between €90 and €100 for a tiny leg of spring lamb. I don’t deal with spring lamb anymore, personally. You have to sell every bit of that lamb, not to make money, but just to break even.
"Prices normally go up around Easter but they come down September or October. But we are talking about €100 of an increase that never came back down.”
She stressed that people are struggling to keep up with the costs.
“I had a man in who wanted to order a leg of lamb. I told him it would be €80 or €90 for spring lamb. He decided to forget about it and went for a bit of roast beef instead.
“I don’t believe in having something on the counter for €50 when I know in my heart and soul that people can’t afford it. It’s not value for money. The last thing I want is people going home and saying 'that’s not worth the money at all'.
"I can honestly say that any lamb I’ve had on the counter in the last six months has not made me any money. I have only broken even. I don’t think it’s the end of lamb for Easter because people will always buy it then. However, I do think it’s the end of everyday lamb like lambchops at dinner."
Tom Durcan, also a butcher at the English Market, shared Helen’s sentiment.
“We got our first spring lambs in about a week and a half ago,” he said. “If you put a plate of lamb on for everybody’s dinner, it’s going to cost you €10 or €15. Lamb has become, to a degree, unsustainable. Most people won’t have seen lamb on the menu in any restaurant for a very long time.
“Meat prices in general have gone very high. A lot of this is down to the war in Ukraine. The demand is there but the supply is tight.
"People are paying €250 or €300 for a lamb. This is versus a few years ago when they would have been €120."
Shoppers at the English Market shared their views on the issue, including Brenda Kennedy who said she will continue buying her meat from the butcher.
“We prefer good quality meat. Although sometimes in the supermarket you can get good quality meet, we tend to buy only from two butchers. I’ll spend the money on good quality food before anything else. I know not everyone can do that, so we are lucky.”
Others, including Peter Healy, said they now favour supermarkets over their local butcher shops.
“I get my meat in Lidl. It’s a lot cheaper than the butchers and I feel you get a bit more in weight. It comes down to money at the end of the day.”
Lisa Cregan from Togher said she is willing to fork out extra for quality lamb.
“I used to get a leg of lamb at Easter but no one was eating it so I buy lamb chops now. If it’s good quality I’ll eat it."
Diarmuid Ó Mathúna, who originally hails from Watergrasshill, serves dishes incorporating lamb at his eatery, Pota café in Connemara.
“If I could open a vegan restaurant tomorrow that would be way better for the environment but we would be closed the next day,” he told the .
“There is a balance to be found, definitely. Lamb is far less impactful on the environment than beef from a methane perspective and it’s less intensely farmed.
"There is no way, however, that we could be charging the premium cut prices seen with fine dining."
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