Speaking at a recent meeting of the IFA national sheep committee meeting in Dublin, the IFA sheep chair Sean Dennehy said a unique feature developing in the lamb market in the next number of years is the convergence of the main Christian festival of Easter and the main Muslim festival of Ramadan.

He said in 2019, Easter will fall on 21 April and Ramadan will commence 14 days later on 5 May. He said this should drive very strong demand into April and May. He pointed out that the second major Muslim festival, Eid, takes place on 10 August 2019.

The IFA sheep chair also said that for the next five years from 2019 right through to 2024, there will only be a one- to two-week space between Easter and Ramadan. He said this should have significant implications for the market for both early lamb producers and hogget finishers.

Dennehy told the meeting that the overall lamb kill is up 69,745 head to 25 November this year.

The major increase is in the ewe kill which is up 57,834 head, while the mid-season lamb kill is down 9,199. Dennehy said with the losses at lambing and weather-related difficulties in the snow last spring, supplies for the remainder of the year should be tighter.

On prices, Dennehy said there has been some positive movement in recent weeks with some top prices as high as €5.20kg paid up to 23kg carcase weights.

He said in recent days some factories have attempted to offer lower quoted prices and bring some uncertainty to the trade.

However, he said farmers selling need to dig in and demand prices well above the lower quoted factory price.