Spring lamb price took another dramatic hit this week, with 30c/kg being wiped off opening quotes, following early and midweek cuts totalling 20c/kg last week, equating to €10 to €10.50/head being wiped from producers in the space of 10 days.

Factories are blaming seasonal price pressure driven by market challenges in key European markets, with the two combined seeing quotes slashed to the extent they have been.

Wiggle room

With prices being so tight, even farmers handling larger numbers and producer groups are struggling to achieve any wiggle room on the quoted prices.

Irish Country Meats (ICM) has opened quotes at €8.30/kg plus 20c QA, while Dawn Kildare returned a quote of €8.30/kg plus 20c QA.

Ballon Meats has not quoted for spring lamb this week.

In terms of numbers, the sheep kill remains unchanged at 42,848, with cull ewe and hogget numbers remaining relatively low. Last week saw an increase of approximately 1,500 head, while this week’s kill numbers remain comparable to last week.

In comparison to 2025 figures, the lamb kill is up approximately 1,180 up on the corresponding week.

Hogget numbers are significantly below those of 2025 figures, with the kill this week down to just 270 head compared with 583 in corresponding week on 2025.

Ewes

Ballon Meats is understood to have held its quote of €5.50/kg for ewes, the same as last week. No quote was received from either Dawn plant on ewes, while ICM has also held last week’s price of €5/kg.

Northern Ireland

Throughput in Northern Ireland is up slightly on last week, with the slaughter figure sitting at 8,624, up 350 head.

Surprisingly, given the price pressure in Northern Ireland, exports from NI to Ireland for direct slaughter are down from 3,788 a fortnight ago to 2,432 last week, while exports from NI to Britain are down from 3,087 to 2,529 across the same period.

Dunbia has been less ferocious in cuts, with a 20p/kg cut to give a quoted price of £7.20/kg (€8.60/kg).

With the downturn in base quotes in Northern Ireland, this is providing further scope for exports to mainland Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

After ABP having cut prices by 40p/kg last week, a further 40p/kg has been cut to its prices this week to £6.70/kg (€7.82/kg).

Dunbia has seen quotes drop as well this week, with 40p/kg cut to give a quoted price of £6.80/kg (€7.93/kg).

Regular sellers and groups are negotiating 10p/kg to 20p/kg above the base prices being quoted, but, similar to the south, it is becoming more challenging.

Prices in Britain have also eased further this week, dropping an additional 20p/kg from last week to £7.50p/kg and are in the region of £7.40/kg to £7.60/kg (€8.63/kg to €8.87/kg).