The lamb trade got off to a slower start to the week in terms of processing, but with many plants working below capacity, weekly throughput is not expected to vary greatly on last week.
The trade is unchanged, with base quotes in the main plants remaining at €7.90/kg to €7.95/kg, plus the plants’ quality assurance (QA) payments of 15c/kg to 20c/kg.
This leaves opening prices on offer for QA lambs at €8.10/kg.
Groups and regular sellers are being paid in the region of €8.20/kg, with a high percentage of lambs trading from €8.15/kg to €8.20/kg.
Sellers handling significant numbers and possessing extra negotiating power are securing returns of €8.25/kg to €8.30/kg.
Deals to 23kg carcase weight are hard to negotiate, but there are some deals being completed to continue to tie into large numbers.
However, the majority of agents remain reluctant to pass above 22.5kg carcase weight.
Ewe prices are also unchanged, with a significant differential remaining. The majority of plants continue to quote from €4.30/kg to €4.50/kg, with plants or abattoirs active for top-quality ewes continuing to pay upwards of €5/kg.
Sellers handling ewes short of flesh are advised to clarify potential cuts before sending sheep for slaughter, with price penalties of upwards of €1/kg to €1.50/kg for ewes lacking flesh cover.
Last week’s sheep kill was recorded at 42,909 head, up about 2,400 sheep on the previous week.
The increase in throughput has lightened the pressure on factories somewhat after a number of weeks of declining throughput.
The big driver in increased throughput was a higher ewe and ram kill of 7,901 head, with the lamb kill broadly unchanged at 34,434 head.
The kill figure was 4,137 head above the corresponding week in 2025, with year-to-date throughput running 24,264 head higher.
This has been underpinned by the Department’s kill figures for ewes and rams running 83,938 head higher due to a change in the manner in which throughput is recorded in plants or abattoirs which previously fell under the control of local authorities.
Northern Ireland
Base quotes in factories in Northern Ireland (NI) are also unchanged with processing as normal on Monday.
Plants continue to offer an opening base price of £6.85/kg to £6.90/kg, which is the equivalent of €8.19/kg to €8.25/kg following a recent strengthening in the value of sterling to euro (83.6p to the euro).
Regular sellers continue to negotiate upwards of £7/kg for significant-sized batches traded from regular sellers.
The number of sheep exported from NI to Ireland for direct slaughter last week was 3,207, about 150 head higher than the previous week.
Numbers exported to Britain have reduced in recent weeks with just 415 head exported last week, half the previous week.
