The first warning sounds of the season on prices in the sheep trade have come from procurement staff at processing outlets with the stronger quotes this week.
Phrases such as “trade under pressure” and “no demand for lambs” were cited by some sheep procurement staff today, (Monday, January 20).
One outlet warned that the number of heavy lambs arriving at factory lairages is causing an issue saying these are “too expensive to be cutting up to put in freezers”.
Another outlet said its quote is only valid for today (Monday, January 20) and tomorrow (Tuesday, January 21) with prices to be reviewed after then.
Despite these concerns, the sheep trade remains on firm footing for today with a number of factory cull ewe and lamb price offerings revised upwards for the opening half of the week at least.
Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €9.00/kg plus a 20c/kg Quality Assurance (QA) bonus for lambs for today and tomorrow leaving €9.20/kg on offer here with prices to be reviewed from tomorrow. ICM is quoting €5.00/kg for cull ewes.
Kepak is quoting €8.95/kg plus a 15c/kg QA bonus leaving €9.10/kg on offer for lambs and €4.80/kg for heavy ewes with €4.70/kg being quoted for lighter ewes.
Kildare Chilling is quoting €8.90/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for lambs leaving €9.00/kg on offer here up to 23.5kg. This outlet is quoting €5.20/kg for “select ewes” grading U2, U3 or R3.
Regular ewes are being quoted at €4.90/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for ewes from 25-40kg leaving €5.00/kg on offer here.
Ewes under 25kg carcass weight are being quoted at €4.40/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus leaving €4.50/kg on offer here with lighter and thin ewes to be priced on a case by case basis.
Ballon Meats in Co. Carlow is quoting €5.00/kg for ewes and €9.20/kg for lambs.
Lamb prices are currently at record highs and the cull ewe trade is also currently exceptionally strong.
It remains to be seen if soundings from procurement managers will materialise in the form of price reductions or if the trade will stabilise or even increase further.