Mart prices up €20/hd across board but factory quotes stagnant
The sheep business this week has shades of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: a much-improved mart trade but a stagnant factory trade with dark hints emanating from processors that things might be about to take a turn for the worse.
All marts since the start of the year have reported week-on-week improvements in live prices — to the end of last week all sheep were up an average of €20/hd.
Yesterday’s sale in New Ross, where close to 1,100 were entered, saw this positivity continue, with Jim Bushe reporting 50.2kg lambs as selling to €170/hd and the general run making €150-167/hd.
Jim added: “You’d buy nothing there in the line of a store for less than €100.”
Heavy cull ewes sold to €2.10/ kg with forward stores making €140-175/hd.
All appears to prospering on the mart side.
Things are very different on the factory side. With quotes again steady and the mart trade strong there was an expectation that the factory trade might at worst remain as it is. Jim Bushe said: “January can be a bad month for meat but there is demand on all fronts.”
Softening
However, all the processors I spoke with claimed that the market is softening with more native French lamb coming onto the French market and undermining prices for imported product.
This brought two different interpretations of what may now happen.
On the one side I was told “price cuts will now be inevitable”, while a different procurement officer said: “It looks like volumes will be down, but we’ll weather it for a few days and see what happens.”
One way or another the Mr Hydes of sheep processing appear to be preparing to do damage to confidence and prices, but it hasn’t happened yet.
If it is to happen, I believe it will depend more on how numbers develop here rather than any foreign factor.
Department data shows that the sheep kill for the week ending January 7 was 46,351 — back 5,409 on the same week last year. That follows on from 33,427 processed in the last week in December, which was itself 2,855 less than the same week in 2022.
A problem for the processors should they decide to pull their quotes is that prices on the continent and in the UK are well ahead of here. Data from Bord Bia shows that as of the week ending the January 7, deadweight prices here averaged €6.58/kg, compared to €8.93/kg in France, €8.37/kg in Spain and €7.15/kg in the UK.
Returning to the here and now and this week’s quotes, it is as you were, with Kildare Chilling continuing to lead the way for lamb on €6.60+10c/kg quality assurance.
Kepak Athleague, not on our table, are also reported to be unchanged at €6.50+15c/kg QA.
It is also steady as you go on the cull ewe side, with ICM ahead on €2.70/kg, Dawn on €2.60/kg and Kildare €2.60-2.90/kg depending on carcase kill out weights. Kepak are also unchanged for cull on €2.65/kg.
On the ground ICSA sheep chairman — and incoming president — Sean McNamara reports that the top price paid to groups, including bonuses, yesterday for lamb was €6.85/ kg, with cull ewes selling from €2.70-3.00/kg.