More woe as up to 50c/kg hacked off hogget quotes

The sheep factory price slide continues. Quotes for lamb slipped another 10c/kg yesterday, while hoggets were slashed by 50c/kg.

On the lamb side the two ICM plants eased back 10c/ kg to €5.20+10c/kg quality assurance, while Kildare Chilling drop 10c/kg to €5.30+10c/kg QA.

Dawn Ballyhaunis and Kepak Athleague, who were not in a position to offer any official quotes last week, return with €5.20+10c/kg QA and €5.20+15c/kg QA respectively.

Dawn, Kepak and the ICM plants all quote €2.50/kg for cull ewes, with Kildare Chilling continuing to lead the way on €2.60+10c/kg QA.

The real big hit comes in relation to hogget prices, as Kildare hammer them down from last week’s €4.90+10c/ kg QA to €4.40+10c/kg QA.

They now match the two ICMs, who drop back 10c/kg.

Last year the price slide continued well into the autumn, with lamb quotes back to €4.30-4.35/kg by the middle of October before recovering slowly in November.

Could that happen this year? I don’t intend to offer any hostages to fortune, but Bord Bia’s sheep kill data is informative.

The week ending June 20 saw 61,777 sheep processed, as opposed to 56,729 for the same week in 2019. This brought the total kill for 2020 to 1,255,886 as against 1,193,890 for the same period in 2019, an increase of 61,996 or 5.2pc.

Breaking the figures down, you find that the total lamb kill at 1,100,509 is up over 81,000 or 8pc, while the cull kill is back 19,202 or 11pc at 155,377.

With Covid restrictions being relaxed across the majority of Europe, the hospitality sector will gradually resume normal trading.

Indications from the marts are that those in the wholesale sheep meat business were busy sourcing stock last week in anticipation of restaurants here reopening yesterday, to the point where prices for heavy lamb rose by around €5/hd. 440+10QA 520+10QA

The lockdown in April and May badly affected Ramadan celebrations, but Muslim families may well plan bigger family get-togethers for Eid al-Adha, which runs from July 30 to August 3.

Those wholesalers seeking heavy lambs added extra bite to the trade last week despite mart numbers increasing.

The store trade, however, underpinned much of the mart trade, with mart managers commenting that the recent rains and subsequent flush of grass added confidence and demand.

That said, other marts continued to see a more hesitant trade as the raft of factory price cuts over the last month continues to work its way back through the system.

Finally, I’d like to wish Barry Cowen every success as Agriculture Minister. Irish farming families await a more balanced approach to the future development of the sector.

Last year the price slide continued well into the autumn, with lamb quotes back to €4.30-4.35/kg by the middle of October