Kildare Chilling continues to set the pace on the lamb price front with its base quote of €7.20/kg plus a 10c/kg quality assurance (QA) bonus.

This represents an increase of 30c/kg on last Thursday’s quote, with prices rising in three instalments of 10c/kg over the week.

This follows the pattern of lamb supplies, with factories reportedly having mores success in sourcing lambs on the back of increasing prices last Thursday, but facing significant challenges over the weekend and again during midweek.

There is significant variation in prices on offer at the lower end of the market, with producers trading in Kildare working off a higher base price.

As the quotes table clearly demonstrates, there are few official quotes, but reports point to the other plants working off a base quote of €6.90/kg to €7.00/kg at the start of the week.

Higher returns

This left prices at the entry level to the trade starting at €7/kg at the beginning of the week, while regular sellers were securing returns of €7.20/kg to €7.30/kg.

All prices have moved on by 10c/kg since, with entry level prices in plants, excluding Kildare, averaging around the €7.10/kg mark, while regular sellers and producer groups are securing returns of €7.30/kg to €7.40/kg.

Deals on transport

Specialist finishers and those handling numbers in the region of 100 to 200 lambs are pushing returns of €7.45/kg to €7.50/kg, with deals also being completed on transport costs.

Producers with greater negotiating power are also having more success in securing a 0.5kg higher carcase weight limit of 23kg.

Lamb prices are running in the region of €2/kg above 2020 levels or €40 to €45 on a carcase weighing 20kg to 22.5kg.

NI quotes

Quotes in Northern Ireland have also increased and stand at £5.70/kg for Thursday or the equivalent of €6.79/kg.

Regular sellers are securing 10p/kg to 15p/kg higher returns, with plants working hard to ward off interest from agents purchasing on behalf of southern plants.

The number of sheep imported south for direct slaughter slipped slightly to just under 8,000 head last week.

Last week’s ewe kill fell by 2,000 head, with numbers tighter this week.

This is reflected in higher demand in mart sales, with this usually the first sign of upward momentum in the trade.

Prices have increased by 10c/kg, with top prices reported at €3.30/kg to €3.40/kg and higher in cases where large numbers are concerned.