Factories ‘are putting boot into farmers’
WHEN goalkeeper Loris Karius, who had a nightmare in the Champions League final on Saturday, is offloaded by Liverpool, I suspect our sheep factories might queue up to sign him. When it comes to dropping things, they are made for each other.
Official factory quotes from cull ewes to hoggets to spring lamb dropped over the weekend; however, unlike Karius’s mistakes, the sharp reduction in prices are premeditated and ruthless. Yesterday’s quotes saw the value of spring lamb to the farmer decline by between 4060c/kg or from €8.40-12.60/hd on a 21kg carcase.
Hogget quotes this week fell by 50c/kg or from €11.50/hd on a 23kg carcase, while cull ewes slipped from 10-30c/kg. To compound this, if you add in last week’s reduction, spring lamb is back 60-80c/kg in 14 days.
Dawn Ballyhaunis were not in a position to quote for either lamb, hoggets or ewes yesterday morning. The two ICM plants and Kepak Athleague quoted €2.80/kg for ewes yesterday, a reduction of 20c/kg on the previous week, while Kildare’s quote of €2.90c/kg plus 10c/kg for the quality assurance bonus is 10c/kg less than last week.
On the hogget front, Dawn were joined by Kepak Athleague yesterday in not quoting, while Kildare dropped their quote to €5.40+10c/kg bonus. The two ICMs are at €5.50+10c/kg bonus — a 50c/kg fall on last week’s base of €6.00/kg.
Moving to the spring lamb, the two ICMs, Kepak, and Kildare all on an official base of €6.20/kg, with Kildare and the ICMs adding 10c/kg in their various quality payment schemes. Also back 50c/kg on lamb is Moyvalley meats at €6.30/kg.
On the mart front, prices moved back by €2-5/hd for the lighter factory types as last week’s tightening in factory prices was passed on. By yesterday afternoon, returns from marts such as Kilkenny’s Monday morning sale showed that €2-5/hd fall for lamb had morphed into an €8-12/hd cut.
The farm organisations have not been slow in lambasting the factories for these sharp price cuts. Sean Dennehy said they are unjustified and irresponsible when the market is strong with Ramadan continuing for another three weeks.
“Farmers see this for what it is, an attempt by the factories to undermine the market,” he said.
John Brooks accused the factories of “putting the boot in”. “A price reduction is often times par for the course when it comes to factories switching their kill from hogget to lamb, but these cuts have really put the boot into farmers,” the ICSA man said.
Prices on the ground steadied by yesterday afternoon, with €6.50-6.60/kg for spring lamb reported and hogget in the €5.50-5.70/kg bracket.
Cull ewes, while officially back 10-30c/kg on last week’s quotes, are still trading at around €3.003.10/kg.