There is no change to factory lamb quotes this week with all export plants on a base quote of €4.40/kg. The majority of sellers are easily negotiating €4.50/kg by virtue of quality assurance (QA) or lamb quality/conformation bonuses.

Keen demand has seen many sellers and producer group members secure €4.55/kg to €4.60/kg. Frequent sellers and those with large numbers have negotiated €4.65/kg with small numbers of deals reported at €4.70/kg or weight allowances to 22kg.

Ballon Meats and Moyvalley Meats are leading the quotes with an all-in price of €4.60/kg. There is greater demand for lamb but processors are keeping a lid on price.

Factories continue to report trading difficulties in France with Grade 1 Irish lamb trading at €4.90/kg to €5.00/kg.

They point to strong competition with British lamb and their prices easing in recent weeks to the equivalent of €4.80/kg including VAT leading to more competition and difficult trading conditions.

The weekly kill fell marginally last week to 55,033 head, influenced by one day’s less processing. Throughput for the year-to-date is running 22,499 head above last year’s levels, but this is being lowered by close to 70,000 less northern sheep processed.

Higher numbers of northern lambs were imported last week to boost factory throughput, with 6,121 sheep imported south for direct slaughter.

With northern plants paying £3.50/kg to £3.55/kg or the equivalent of €4.60/kg to €4.68/kg, northern lambs are reported to be costing at least the equivalent of €4.70/kg to €4.80/kg, especially if transport costs are factored into the equation.

To date, the number of sheep imported from Northern Ireland is just shy of 68,000 less. The number of exports has been limited by unfavourable exchange rates for northern traders and processors increasing activity.

The weekly kill, at 12,677, has been running about 3,000 head above the previous year’s level, with throughput for the year-to-date totalling 246,086 compared with 189,937 for the same period in 2013.

Poor kill-out percentage: Processors continue to report high volumes of lambs achieving a poor kill-out percentage. Many report lambs killing out as low as 41% to 42%.

This is significantly limiting farmers reaching the maximum sale price. At a carcase weight of 21.5kg and factory price of €4.60/kg, factory lambs are falling just shy of €99 per head. Kepak Athleague is paying €100 for lambs exceeding 21.5kg carcase weight.

Steady ewe trade: Factory ewe quotes remain unchanged with most plants quoting €2.40/kg. Demand for good-quality ewes is firm with prices of up to €2.60/kg reported. There has also been room to negotiate on weight limits depending on plants purchasing with deals done from a limit of 40kg to 50kg.