Irish lamb is very much in demand - but at a price

By Peter Young

Poor demand for lamb, weak sterling, inconsistent quality, lower skins prices - every reason under the sun was put out by factories this week as they pulled prices further.

Some quoted as low as 350c/kg for hoggets and 450c/kg for spring lamb. Kepak Hacketstown offered the highest quote for today (Thursday) of 375c/kg +5 for U grades for hoggets and 465c/kg +5 for U grade spring lamb. The price cut is leaving farmers €18-20 a lamb worse off compared to a few weeks ago.

However, factories are not getting it all their own way. Tight numbers forced many plants to give up to 400c/kg for hoggets earlier this week and up to 500c/kg for spring lambs. Ewes continue to come out in large numbers, with 170c/kg proving difficult to get this week.

The problem is that supermarkets and chefs want Irish lamb, but only at a certain price. They are prepared to pledge their commitment to Irish lamb once it is below that price. The factories know this. That's why they are trying so hard to get it low enough to ensure their large clients will take large volumes when they switch over to new-season lamb. Butchers have started to make the move but factories are saying the larger supermarkets will not move for a week or two. The problem is that the price that is attractive to supermarkets appears to be well below what farmers need to make a living out of sheep.

IFA Sheep Committee Chairman Henry Burns said there is growing anger and frustration among farmers with the way they see their livelihoods being eroded by the concerted actions of meat factories working with their supermarket clients to cut lamb prices.

Britain

Lamb numbers are even tighter in Britain, where supplies of good quality hoggets have fallen off and there are few new-season lambs in sight to fill the void.

The price for hoggets has slipped but the best ones are still getting 340pstg/kg (453c/kg incl VAT) and spring lambs are making 400pstg (526c/kg incl VAT).

The swing in sterling is not all bad for Irish farmers. I'm hearing Foyle Meats are using it to their advantage to buy more lambs south of the border. Foyle were active buyers in the Republic last spring, buying up to 10,000 a week.

In Northern Ireland, hoggets are making 300 to 320pst/kg (395-420c/kg incl VAT) and spring lambs are fetching from 360 to 370pstg/kg (473 to 482c/kg).

France

There are few Irish lambs going to France. Irish grade one lambs are making around 400c/kg excl VAT and the few new-season lambs are making 500c/kg excl VAT.

EU Sheep report

In fairness to MEP Liam Aylward, there were a lot of good recommendations in his EU sheep report launched this week. He even squeezed in the need for 14-day notice of inspections. The question is, where will it go from here. The EU is only 79% self-sufficient and falling. It has to show its commitment to the sheep sector in the form of a maintenance payment, higher promotional budgets as well as more transparency in the sector. We await its reaction and just hope that it doesn't go on the same shelf as the Malone report, which, despite all the effort, has yielded very little yet.