Spring lamb faces factory price crunch
YESTERDAY saw all factories attempt to crunch spring lamb prices as they dropped their official quotes by 10-20c/ kg. The short story is that lamb is now being quoted at €6.60-6.80/kg, while Dawn and the two ICM plants are the only plants officially quoting for hoggets.
On the positive side, Dawn and the two ICMs left their base quotes for hoggets unchanged from last week at €6.00/kg. Also positive is the fact that all the plants with an interest in cull ewes left their quoted prices at €3/kg - apart from the €3.10/kg available at Kepak Athleague.
The top quote on our table for new-season lamb comes from Kildare Chilling at €6.80+10c/kg bonus, followed by Moyvalley Meats and Kepak Athleague on €6.80/ kg. Next up are the two ICMs on €6.60+10c/kg bonus, with Dawn Ballyhaunis tagging along at the bottom of the ladder at €6.60/kg.
While numbers of hoggets are dwindling, they have not left the stage as evidenced by the fact that both the ICMs and Dawn quote €6.00/kg for them.
IFA national sheep chairman Sean Dennehy said that factories are paying €6.50/kg for top quality hoggets, up to 23kg. He said there are a few more spring lambs out this week with factories paying €7.00/kg.
Mr Dennehy described the ewe trade as steady, with €3.00/kg generally available and top prices up to €3.30/kg.
I spoke with New Ross auctioneer Jim Bush on how he sees the sheep trade developing.
“2018 will be remembered as one of the toughest springs for a long number of years,” he said. “Losses on sheep farms were high, for both lambs and ewes, with all sorts of problems arising during and after lambing.
“With the good hogget trade throughout the spring, farmers cashed in ewe hoggets normally kept for breeding, some making up to €160 plus. Early season lambs were always going to be tight, so this has kept a great floor under the trade, with prices reaching a top of €169 head,” he pointed out.
Looking forward, Jim Bushe said the tough lambing conditions this spring were highlighted even more by the numbers of cast ewes being presented for sale.
“If this had been a normal spring, most of them ewes would be rearing lambs,” he said. This in turn, I believe, will leave numbers of lambs tight enough for the rest of the year, so please God you could see a very buoyant trade for lambs and sheep in general for 2018.”