Unacceptable Behaviour of Sheep Factories on Price – IFA
IFA Sheep Chair Adrian Gallagher said the behaviour of sheep factories on price in recent weeks is unacceptable, completely at odds with the realities of the marketplace and simply not good enough.
He said prices in the UK have risen by 9p/kg in the last week and have increased by 35p/kg since the beginning of February to the equivalent of €8.65/kg in recent weeks, creating an unacceptable and indefensible difference with our prices.
The IFA Sheep Chair said across the continent it is a similar story with prices in France hitting almost €10/kg and prices in Spain well over €11/kg as markets react to tight supplies of sheep meat and demand from the marketplace.
Adrian Gallagher said throughput in sheep factories is back over 800,000 head since 2023 and will not stop there if factories persist in refusing to return the full value of the market for sheep meat to farmers.
He said the drop in numbers should be a wakeup call to the factories. Farmers will not continue producing lambs for returns of €2/kg and more below prices in some of our main markets.
The IFA Sheep Chair said there is no market justification for the current behaviour of factories and the prices they are offering farmers. Supplies are tight, demand is strong and prices in our key markets are up to €2/kg above ours.
Factories can and must do more for farmers.
“Farmers should push back strongly on factories and demand prices reflective of the realities of the marketplace. Demand for live shipping is intensifying and will provide much-needed competition to factories that need to up their game to compete for the limited numbers of suitable sheep that are available,” he said.
