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The sheep trade has started the first full week of processing activity for over two weeks in a solid manner.
Factory appetite for lambs is solid and this is keeping a strong floor under the trade.
Prices negotiated are being very much influenced by the number of sheep on offer and the selling power of the person possessing the sheep.
Top prices
A high percentage of deals for quality assured (QA) lamb range from €5.80/kg to €5.90/kg.
Regular sellers with greater negotiating power are also, in cases, getting transport costs covered or where this is not applicable pushing returns to €5.95/kg to €6.00/kg.
There are isolated reports of deals at the top end of the market exceeding the €6/kg mark and rising 5c/kg to 10c/kg higher.
There are also reports of small numbers of lambs being offered an opening price quote of less than €5.80/kg, with this confined mainly to small numbers on non-QA lambs from sellers with lower bargaining power.
Ewe trade
The ewe trade is firm, with prices ranging in general from €2.75/kg to €2.85/kg for small numbers traded from individual sellers with lower negotiating power, rising to €3.00/kg for larger batches.
There are isolated deals of €3.10/kg reported, but this is harder to secure this week unless ewes are traded with a significant number of lambs.
Mart sales
Mart sales are slow to resume, with some marts delaying their resumption until next week, while a number of others that had planned to hold sales this week have pushed back the opening sale date by one week due to COVID-19 concerns.
Carnew Mart in Wicklow is one a small number of marts to hold sales in 2021.
Its sale last Thursday included an entry of about 420 lambs and 80 cull ewes.
The trade for lambs was brisk, with 115 lambs sold across five to six lots and ranging in weight from 50kg to 55kg averaging €135 (range from €132 to €139), while the top price of €141 was paid for a batch of 20 lambs weighing 63kg.
Lambs weighing 47kg to 48kg sold in general from €124 to €127, while lambs weighing 42kg to 45kg sold from €110 to €120.
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