Marts which are holding their first sale of 2023 this week are resuming in a more challenging trading environment.

The 30c/kg pull in lamb quotes since the start of the year has resulted in finished lamb liveweight prices easing by €7 to €8/head on the trade, while marts which resumed trading last week report prices back €3 to €5/head this week.

Top prices range from €137 to €145 for good-quality lowland lambs weighing from 50kg upwards, with select lots of excellent-quality lambs exceeding this range on rare occasion.

Lesser-quality lots or lambs weighing 48kg to 49kg but still capable of killing at close to maximum carcase weights are trading anywhere from €135 to €140/head, with factory agents judging the kill-out carefully.

Prices are more variable where there is a question mark on kill-out or where there is mixed-quality lambs in a batch. In such cases, prices are falling back in cases to €130/head.

The store lamb trade has eased in some cases, but not to the same extent as the finished lamb trade.

Prices for lowland stores average around the €2.50/kg to €2.70/kg mark, with quality store lambs with a good cover of flesh and needing a short finishing period exceeding this range in cases.

Plainer quality

The trade for plainer-quality lots lacking flesh is in the region of €2.30/kg to €2.50/kg, with hill types falling back to €2/kg for plain-quality but heavier lambs weighing upwards of 35kg, while light Scottish Blackface lambs continue to struggle the most, selling for less than €2/kg.

Cull ewes are relatively firm, with heavy ewes averaging from €130 to €157, but hitting as high as €160 to €170. Medium-weight lots with flesh are trading from €95 to €115.

The trade for small numbers of in-lamb ewes is variable. An annual sale in Ballymena of over 280 mainly in-lamb hoggets along with a small consignment of second to fourth crop ewes averaged in the region of £156 (€179).

Texel-cross averaged £165 each (€190), Suffolk-crosses averaged £162 each and Mules £151 (€173). This represents a fall of about £26/head (€30) on the corresponding sale in 2022.