The heat seems to have come out of the lamb market in Scotland, as prices soften across the sheep sector.

The prime ring saw lambs sold to an average of £1.97/kg, which is the first time prices have dipped below £2/kg this season.

Scottish abattoirs are still paying farmers £3.80/kg to £3.90/kg for R grade continental carcases up to 400kg.

The official AHDB price for R4L steers is £3.94/kg, which is up 1p/kg.

R4L heifers rose for the second week, this time by 3p/kg to £3.94/kg, and same-grade young bulls rose 1p/kg to an official AHDB price of £3.75/kg.

Marts sold 20,488 prime lambs the ring, a fall of 4,389, with the average price falling 7p/kg to £1.97/kg recorded for medium-weight lambs

Cows grading O-4L were reported at £2.87/kg, which is the same price as last week.

Store cattle numbers fell by over 1,500 to under 3,500 sold through the live ring. The national average didn’t move, staying at £960/head.

Marts sold 20,488 prime lambs the ring, a fall of 4,389, with the average price falling 7p/kg to £1.97/kg recorded for medium-weight lambs.

Heavy lambs dropped 6p/kg to average £1.97/kg, showing little difference in the price of heavier and medium-weight lambs. Meanwhile, the UK average price published by the AHDB sits at £4.60/kg deadweight for R grade lambs, which is a fall of 8p/kg.

The live ring sold similar numbers of cull ewes to last week, with 9,757 trading in Scotland. The price on the week fell 19p/head to £ 63.77/head.

Store lambs

The store lamb season continues, with 26,422 lambs sold in Scotland. The biggest sale of the week was held at Dingwall Mart, where over 11,000 lambs were traded.

The two marts in Stirling also had big sales, with UA selling nearly 6,000 lambs and the Caledonian selling just over 4,000. The average price of store lambs was £60/head in Dingwall, £67/head in United Auctions and £59/head at Caledonian.

Across Scotland, continental and Suffolk lambs are commanding around £67/head, while Cheviots average £52/head and Blackfaces £46/head.

Turning to exports of GB lamb, despite the growth in June, sheepmeat exports for the first six months of the year were down 13% year on year at 38,600t. According to the AHDB, shipments to all major destinations were down; to France (-2,900t) and Germany (-3,500t).