Quarter one of 2021 has positioned itself firmly in the record books with the excellent trade for hoggets and cull ewes now joined by spring lambs topping the €200 per head mark.

A number of sales held over the last week breached the €200 per head mark for small numbers of top-quality spring lambs.

The trade has been driven by butchers and wholesalers purchasing lambs for the Easter market.

Marts in NI are also witnessing an excellent trade

Factory quotes for spring lambs are running €1.70/kg to €1.80/kg above the corresponding week in 2020 with prices ranging from €7.80/kg to in excess of €8/kg. The butcher and wholesale trade for top-quality lambs is exceeding this level with spring lambs selling on average from €35 to €45, or even higher, above 2020 levels.

It is a similar story in Northern Ireland (NI) with factory prices for spring lambs ranging from £6.70/kg to £7/kg (€7.87/kg to €8.22/kg at 85p to the euro). Marts in NI are also witnessing an excellent trade with prices ranging from £140 to £150 (€164 to €176) for top-quality spring lambs.

The main demand is at the start and end of the festival

The hogget trade is also being boosted as the week progresses by factories starting to purchase sheep for the Ramadan festival which starts on Monday 12 April and finishes on Wednesday 12 May. The main demand is at the start and end of the festival.

The buoyant trade in recent weeks has positioned the Irish farmgate sheep price in the unfamiliar position of recording the top price among the main sheep producing and exporting countries in Europe.

The Irish price for the week ending 20 March was recorded at €7.27/kg. When VAT at 5.6% is included, this increases to €7.67/kg or 22c/kg above the British price which is the next highest.