Farmers are finding themselves in a better bargaining position as the weekly kill numbers had a second consecutive drop.

The kill is sitting at 43,632 head, down 2,610 head on last week and back a massive 14% on the same period last year.

With the reduced numbers factory agents have had to work harder to secure numbers and farmers are now in a better bargaining position.

Last week most farmers were securing all in prices of €5.10/kg, with the drop in supplies farmers are successfully negotiating prices of €5.15/kg and higher.

Frequent sellers are securing up to €5.20/kg. Producer groups are also in a stronger position with prices of €5.25/kg being secured when all bonus payments are taken into account.

There was little or no movement in official quotes this week with the exception of Irish Country Meats which increased its base quote for hoggets by 5c/kg to a base of €4.90/kg.

Kepak Athleague continues to lead with a base quote of €4.95/kg, with all plants similar when bonuses are included.

Spring lambs

Hopes are building among spring lamb producers that Easter will spark an improvement in the trade.

At the moment, base quotes in the two largest processing plants for spring lamb continue to sit at €6/kg.

However, buying has not really kicked off in earnest and there is still hope that there will be room for improvement on this starting point.

The later Easter may be better timing for marketing of early lambs and processors should be in a better position and more eager to handle new-season lambs.

This year, Easter Sunday falls on 16 April – it was three weeks earlier in 2016 falling on 27 March.

IFA national sheep committee chair John Lynskey said with the high production costs and work involved, spring lamb producers would need a price in the order of €7.00/kg for this top-quality product.

Kepak is still in the market for milk lambs and Irish Country Meats has promised to officially quote for these lambs next week.

According to Bord Bia, there is little change in the French market, with reduced demand on the back of lower consumption.

It is anticipated that volumes of domestic Lacaune lamb will ease in the coming weeks, which should help the trade.

Cull ewes

As shown in Sheepwatch below, the cull ewe trade is going from strength to strength. Base quotes in all factories are sitting at €2.80/kg, but higher prices are being paid to secure numbers. Prices in excess of €3/kg were paid this week.