Any hopes of the sheep trade starting the new year in a positive manner have well and truly been eroded.

Factory base quotes have been pulled by a further 20c/kg this week.

The quotes table is sparse this week, with the two Irish Country Meats plants working off a base price of €6.00/kg.

Other plants not offering an official quote are reported as operating off similar base quotes, with some quoting groups a 5c/kg to 10c/kg higher base quote.

It should be stated that these quotes are for Thursday, with plants also slow to offer quotes too far in advance.

Lower end of market

Prices at the lower end of the market are in the region of €6.10/kg to €6.15/kg, with producer groups and specialist finishers facing challenges in securing returns in excess of €6.30/kg for Thursday.

There are some prices 5c/kg to 10c/kg higher, but there are becoming sparse as the week has progressed.

Prices are 20c/kg to 30c/kg lower week on week and some 70c/kg to 80c/kg lower year on year.

The trade also dipped significantly in January 2022, but this occurred a week later.

Surplus

Factories are blaming a surplus of New Zealand lamb in the EU and British markets as creating major volatility and leading to lower volumes being exported.

The increase in New Zealand lamb on the EU and British market is being underpinned by reduced volumes exported to China due to stringent COVID-19-related restrictions.

This has reduced New Zealand lamb prices, with Bord Bia price reports showing a differential of €1.80/kg in New Zealand and Irish farmgate prices. This has increased from about €1/kg in recent years.

Chinese meat imports have increased on the back of an easing in restrictions and it is hoped that this will reduce the volume of NZ lamb available.

Some plants are advising farmers to move lambs as they come fit, avoiding presenting under-finished lambs.

This, they say, is compounding issues with out-of-spec product harder to trade.

Irish Farmers Assocation sheep chair Kevin Comiskey has strongly criticised factories for further cuts on lamb prices.

“Weakening of lamb prices at a time when production costs are at an all-time high is not acceptable and must stop.

“Input costs on sheep farms has increased in the past 12 months by over 40% and sheep farmers do not have the capacity to absorb this level of cost increase, which has eroded the income levels in an extremely vulnerable sector,” he said.

Northern trade

The trade in Northern Ireland has also fallen by 20p/kg, with quotes for Thursday in the region of £5.10/kg.

This is the equivalent of €5.75/kg at 88.8p to the euro. Prices have also reduced in Britain by a similar amount.

Regular sellers and those trading through groups are securing 5p/kg to 10p/kg above base quotes.