The latest significant cut in factory lamb price is evident in varying degrees in recent days.
Marts with a vibrant butcher or wholesale trade have been better able to withstand the downward price pressure for the best-quality lots on offer, with these buyers helping to keep a floor under the trade.
This has opened up a greater differential between prices paid based on the final destination.
Many sales have recorded top prices for excellent-quality lambs weighing upwards of 48kg to 50kg selling from €160 to €166, with a selection of lots rising to €170 and higher.
Lambs weighing 48kg to 50kg but destined for the factory trade are trading on average from €148 to €154, with plainer-quality lots selling back to €140 to €144 in cases.
It is a similar situation for lambs weighing 46kg to 47kg, with the highest prices reported climbing above €150 and ranging back to below €140 for lesser-quality lots with a poor kill-out potential.
Lambs weighing around the 40kg to 42kg mark are selling anywhere from €110 to €125, again depending on flesh cover and kill-out potential.
The number of store lambs coming on stream remains low, but meeting a solid demand. Lowland lambs are trading from €2.90/kg to €3.18/kg on average, with top prices 10c/kg to 15c/kg higher on occasion. Likewise, plainer-quality lambs, poorly batched lambs and some hill crosses are back to €2.60/kg to €2.85/kg.
Hogget numbers are slowly growing, with higher entries in the east, tallying with earlier lambing. For example, Tullow Mart had over 20 lots of hoggets entered on Tuesday.
Lighter but nice-quality types sold from €170 to €180, with stronger Suffolk and Suffolk-Cheviot-crosses rising to €200 and hitting a top of €222 on a few occasions.
The cull ewe trade is unchanged. Scottish Blackface and lowland ewes lacking flesh are trading from €0.90/kg to €1.15/kg.
Ewes weighing 75kg to 80kg are trading from €1.20/kg to €1.55/kg and higher, while heavier fleshed ewes are still capable of rising to €1.70/kg to €2/kg on occasion where buyers sourcing sheep for export are active.
