There is much more life in the sheep trade this week with cuts to lamb prices made after the ending of the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha largely reversed.

Factories moved at the start of the week to try and secure higher numbers and compete with a vibrant mart trade by increasing base quotes by 20c/kg.

This leaves the base quote in most plants at €9.70/kg plus the 20c/kg quality assurance (QA) payment.

Groups and regular sellers are being paid €10/kg, while groups working on a higher payment mechanism are securing €10.10/kg for lambs.

The two Irish Country Meats plants in Camolin and Navan increased carcase weight limits by 0.5kg to 21.5kg.

Other plants are yet to officially follow suit, reports indicate that they are matching these terms where significant numbers are concerned to close deals.

The increase in price resulted from factories struggling to attract numbers forward with last week’s kill falling by over 12,000 head and recorded at 32,561 head.

While the scale of this reduction was influenced by a lower appetite from factories, numbers are tighter this week. Lamb numbers not yet capable of compensating for a seasonal decline in hogget numbers.

Last week’s hogget kill reduced by almost 8,000 head to 9,358. Lamb numbers also reduced by over 4,000 head to 17,458.

As such, hoggets remain in demand, with the base quote unchanged at €9/kg plus the respective QA payments of 20c/kg.

Farmers handling high numbers are seeing returns of €9.30-€9.40/kg with possibly higher being paid to finishers handling large numbers and supplying lighter hoggets killing at less than 23kg carcase weight.

Throughput of ewes and rams is unchanged, with plants happy to handle any numbers coming on stream.

The general run of ewe prices in most plants ranges from €5-€5.30/kg. Ballon Meats remains well ahead with its quote of €5.50/kg.

Reports indicate that some plants are willing to do deals on carcase weight above the typical cut-off of 45kg to prevent farmers opting to sell ewes live. The trade for high-quality carcases in mart sales is solid with live export and wholesale buyers active (see below).

Northern Ireland

There is much more competition in the trade in Northern Ireland with the number of sheep exported to Britain for slaughter more than doubling to 6,665 head last week.

Reports indicate that there was also significant numbers exported under the production and breeding certificate and appearing in sales.

This is being fuelled by very tight supplies in Britain and a booming live trade with record prices for the time of year.

The number of sheep exported for direct slaughter to Ireland more than halved to just 993 head.

British deadweight lamb prices are upwards of £9.40/kg (€10.88/kg) with live mart prices trending higher than deadweight returns.

Base quotes in Northern Ireland are unchanged at £8.80/kg (€10.12/kg) with groups and regular sellers securing 10p/kg to 20p/kg higher.