The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Positive signals for sheep sector
analysts predict continued strong market throughout april and May
The Easter price spike for sheep meat may have passed for another year, but the latest market statistics show that hogg prices at Scottish markets are holding around 30% higher than in 2017.
With this year’s lambing season in full swing, the positive signals for the industry look set to continue as analysts predict that tightening supplies will result in a continued strong market throughout April and May.
In a market update, Quality Meat Scotland economist Stuart Ashworth said auction market throughputs through March were above last year’s levels and the UK weekly slaughter of prime sheep had been running well ahead of last year, yet farm-gate prices had strengthened, which suggested a basic strength in demand.
Meanwhile, sheep producers in Ireland, France and Spain have also reported farm-gate prices which are currently 15-20% higher than last year.
Mr Ashworth said imports of New Zealand lamb, which usually peak at this time of year to meet the seasonal demand, had been influenced by dry weather which resulted in the early slaughter of their lamb crop and increased exports to China, Germany and France.
“Slaughter statistics from New Zealand suggest that between October and the end of January they killed 10% more lambs than last year, although their January kill struggled to match year-earlier levels,” he said.
“Not surprisingly New Zealand saw some growth in exports over this period, but the latest data suggests that the volumes exported in February failed to match last year.”
The UK has been increasing exports to France, which reported lower slaughter volumes throughout the autumn and into this year, and to Germany and Belgium.
“Once again we see the importance of European Union customers to the market for Scotch and UK lamb,” said Mr Ashworth.
Consumer analysts Kantar Worldpanel say the volume of lamb sold in the four-week period including Easter can be double the levels of the month preceding and following the annual festival.
Most demand is for leg roasting joints, which poses a challenge to processors to sell the remaining cuts from the carcase.