‘Sticky’ trade leads to ICM waiting game

THERE have been some attempts by factories to undermine farmer confidence in the market place.

The ICM group were unable to decide on any quotes.

Kildare Chilling eased their quote for spring lamb by 10c/ kg to €6.90/kg plus bonuses, while Dawn Ballyhaunis shaved 20c/kg off their quote for new season lamb, thus bringing it back to €6.80/kg.

So where does that leave us? Quotes for hogget ranged from a low of €6.10/kg at Moyvalley to a high of €6.30+10c/kg quality assurance at Kildare Chilling.

Overall the lamb prices ranged from that aforementioned low of €6.80/kg at Dawn to a high of €7.10/kg at Moyvalley Meats, which by the way is 10c/kg above their quote from last week.

Also squeezed in there is the fact that Dawn Ballyhaunis pushed their quote for hogget up by 5c/kg to €6.30+5c bonus yesterday.

There’s a bit of the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away about the Dawn prices to be sure, but with hogget still the dominant force, numerically, farmers are probably overall coming out slightly ahead.

Overall, however, allowing for the fact the ICM group were shy on the quoting front, factory prices for hogget are stable to improved as in the case of Dawn.

The situation with cull ewes is also one of stability with quotes from Dawn, Kepak and Kildare all unchanged from last week.

This means Kepak Athleague continue to shade on ewe prices with their quote of €3.30/kg from Kildare’s €3.20+ 10c/kg bonus while Dawn Ballyhaunis remain firm at €3.20/kg.

Factory representatives report that the trade in France has become “sticky”, despite the positive aspect of less British lamb coming on to the French market due to reduced New Zealand lamb coming into Britain.

This “stickiness” is due to reports that Spanish suppliers have stepped up their spring offensive in the French market and that Lacaune lamb from the south of France has begun to make its presence felt.

IFA national sheep chair Sean Dennehy said hoggets remain in strong demand and factories are paying €6.40 to €6.50/kg in general for 23.5kg weight.

He said some top prices were €6.60 and top weights were 24kg.

Spring lambs are making €7.00/kg despite some factories trying to talk the price down. Ewes are making €3.30/kg. John Brooks of ICSA concurs but adds that with this year’s spring lamb tending to come in a bit under finished, farmers should consider keeping them longer to get a better finish and kill out.