Factories have moved to take control of the lamb trade following the end of peak buying for the Islamic religious festival of Eid al-Adha.

A number of plants have reduced their base quote for Thursday by 30c/kg and are offering a base of €7.30/kg to €7.35/kg plus quality assurance (QA) payments.

The two Irish Country Meats plants in Camolin and Navan reduced their base quote by 10c/kg at the start of the week and a further 20c/kg on Thursday to a base of €7.30/kg plus 20c/kg QA. Kildare Chilling are also down 30c/kg, quoting a base of €7.40/kg/kg.

The trade over the coming week will be strongly influenced by how markets readjust following a period of high activity and the number of sheep coming on stream.

Reports indicate that lamb numbers could tighten significantly with producers pushing out lambs at lighter weights and weaning set to take place in an increasing number of March lambing flocks.

The keen appetite exhibited by factories is evident in last week’s kill increasing by almost 17,000 head and recorded at 70,071.

Lambs

Lambs dominated throughput at 55,870 head but there was still a significant number of 8,753 hoggets slaughtered. As expected the ewe and ram kill was relatively low at 5,444 head.

Demand for hoggets has dropped sharply with quotes for Thursday falling by 70c/kg to 85c/kg leaving hoggets quoted at a base price of €6/kg in the two ICM plants while Kildare Chilling are not quoting for hoggets.

Ewes

Ewe quotes have also come under more pressure and range from €3.10/kg to €3.40/kg in the main export-orientated plants. This is a reduction of 10c/kg to 20c/kg on last week while Ballon Meats ewe quote of €3.50/kg is 10c/kg lower.

Northern trade

The increase in throughput in factories in Ireland was helped by imports from Northern Ireland for direct slaughter almost doubling to 8,235 head.

Factories in Northern Ireland were not as involved in filling orders for Eid al-Adha with throughput not experiencing the same lift.

Plants have also moved to bring prices back with base quotes for Thursday down 20p/kg at £6.00/kg or the equivalent of €6.94/kg at the equivalent of 86.5p to the euro.

Regular sellers and groups are securing 10p/kg to 15p/kg higher but factories are reluctant to negotiate much above the quoted price.

Chinese sheepmeat imports in the first four months of 2023 recovered by 21%, or 20,100t, to reach 115,300t.

The AHDB forecast that high inventories of sheepmeat and forecasted sluggish demand over the summer months is likely to limit sheepmeat imports in the short term.