Strong Demand & No BTV Impact on Sheep Markets to Underpin Price

IFA Sheep Chair Adrian Gallagher said the recent behaviour of sheep factories in cutting lamb prices is unacceptable and must stop.

Demand for sheep meat is strong and will improve over the coming weeks and months as supplies remain extremely tight and will be well below levels required for factories to service key customers.

“We are now almost €1/kg behind the GB lamb price where tight supplies and good market conditions has pushed prices on by over 10p/kg in the last week,” he said.

Adrian Gallagher said farmers have invested heavily in producing lambs for factories at this time of year and must get a return on this investment.

He said the level of decline in the sector is well documented, with over 800,000 sheep lost from processing in the last two years.  The behaviour of factories in refusing to return the full value of the market in lamb price will only compound the problem and add further to the drop in numbers of sheep and sheep farmers.

“Market conditions justify higher prices. The GB price is rising. The French price remains extremely strong at almost €10/kg and this must be reflected in the direction of travel of our prices.”

Adrian Gallagher said the main destination of live exports of sheep is France. There is no change in access to this market since the confirmation of BTV in the country.

“Live sheep can continue to be exported to France and if factories are not careful they will have a lot less lambs again this year as farmers opt for the better prices that will be available from exporters in the coming weeks if they don’t change their approach,” he said.

The IFA Sheep Chair said farmers should push back strongly on any negativity from factories on price, demand stronger prices and only sell lambs as they become fit, there is no impact from the BTV situation in all of our key outlets for sheep meat.