Last week’s sheep kill fell to just 36,643 head. This equates to a reduction of 1,588 head on the previous week and over 3,500 in the space of a fortnight.

There were murmurs of quotes being reduced earlier in the week, but the tightness in supplies have helped to keep a floor under the trade.

Sheep producers continue to bemoan a lack of lamb quotes, with only the two Irish Country Meats (ICM) plants and Ballon Meats quoting for Thursday.

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ICM’s base quote of €8/kg plus 20c/kg quality assurance (QA) payment is unchanged, as is Ballon Meats’s all-in opening quote of €8.20/kg.

Reports indicate the two plants in the west are operating at a base of €8/kg plus their 10c or 15c/kg QA payment, with Kildare Chilling said to be operating in the region of €8.10/kg to €8.20/kg plus 10c/kg QA.

Producer groups are generally trading at €8.30/kg for R grade lambs, with similar paid to regular sellers.

Top prices paid to some groups are rising to €8.40/kg, as are prices paid to sellers trading at the top end of the market.

However, reports indicate that it has been a tougher proposition to breach the €8.30/kg mark this week.

The number of hoggets in the weekly kill actually increased by a few hundred head last week, with 1,369 sheep killed.

Base quotes for hoggets remain unchanged at €7/kg, with factories content to accept any sheep coming on stream.

Prices are in the region of €7.20/kg to €7.30/kg in the main, but up to €7.50/kg has been paid for hoggets ticking all the boxes on carcase weight or fat cover.

The cull ewe trade is sharper in some marts, but there is no change in the factory trade.

The two ICM plants are offering a quote of €4.50/kg, which is at the lower end of the market. Other plants are operating from €4.70/kg to €5/kg, with Ballon Meats topping quotes at €5.20/kg.

The strength of the live trade should encourage sellers with heavier, good-quality ewes to assess the most lucrative outlet.

Factories are typically implementing a carcase weight cut-off at 43kg to 46kg, although some sellers are having success of negotiating higher where a percentage of a consignment are exceeding the weight limit in place.

Northern Ireland

Base quotes in Northern Ireland dropped by 10p to £6.80/kg or the equivalent of €7.89/kg.

Groups and regular sellers are securing returns north of £7/kg (€8.12/kg), with buyers purchasing sheep for export continuing to insert strong competition into the trade.

Last week’s sheep kill bucked the recent trend, with throughput rising by 1,800 head to about 8,000 sheep.

There were 3,603 sheep exported to Ireland for direct slaughter and 2,285 exported to Britain for direct slaughter.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board reports British prices at £7.54/kg (€8.75/kg) for last week.