Despite a number of processors not operating on Monday and Tuesday of this week, lamb prices have strengthened, with €5/kg commonly reported on Wednesday. Factory agents have repeatedly tried to talk prices down over the past three weeks. But their efforts have been in vain, as week by week lamb prices continue to strengthen.

Late last week, factory agents indicated there would be a backlog of lambs created because of the factory blockades. They alluded to pressure on prices as a result.

Such pressure has not materialised, as lamb prices strengthened by the middle of this week, when all plants were back in operation.

Supplies of finished lambs have tightened dramatically since late September, when the weekly kill exceeded 70,000 in the run up to the Muslim Eid-Al-Adha festival. Since then, weekly kill figures have floated between 57,000 to 59,000 head per week. Last week’s kill fell substantially to 49,461 head, the lowest since early June.

For the year to date, the national sheep kill stands at 2.27m head and is running 17% higher than 2013 levels.

A number of Irish processors traditionally relied on importing Northern lambs to bolster throughput, but import figures last week were down 2,400 head on the previous week at 7,959 head.

For the year to date, imported lambs from NI are down 82,000 head, or 26%, on 2013 levels. With the Irish domestic kill currently running 26,000 sheep ahead of 2013 levels and over 42,000 sheep exported live, lamb supplies are likely to be tight for the remainder of the year.