Factory agents are trying to steady the lamb trade following last week’s increase of 20c/kg to 30c/kg in prices paid.

Base quotes for Monday remain at €6.35/kg to €6.50/kg, but there are more reports of farmers securing higher prices.

At the top end of the market, sellers handling significant numbers and selling through groups are securing returns ranging from €6.70/kg to €6.85/kg, with carcase weights now moved to 22.5kg in almost all these deals.

Strength

Some specialist finishers and agents handling very high numbers are said to be pushing returns to €6.90/kg to €7.00/kg.

Numbers in this bracket are low, but the strength of agents purchasing in mart sales denotes they are being well looked after to provide factories with a solid numbers base that takes the pressure off them to compete for smaller numbers.

Sellers handling smaller numbers are generally trading from €6.60/kg to €6.70/kg.

A number of mart managers have reported entries of lambs appearing in sales that would normally be going direct to the factory, with producers weighing up the most lucrative outlet for the type of lamb on hand.

Sale prices

Sales held over the weekend and on Monday have witnessed average prices strengthen by another €2 to €3/head.

Well-fleshed lambs weighing from 50kg to 54kg are selling on average from €100 to €105 over the weight, with top-quality butcher and wholesale-type lambs selling to €108 to €110 with the weight and exceeding €160/head.

Lesser-quality types are selling back to €93 to €95 with the weight.