IFA Call on Factories and Retailers to Stabilise the Lamb Trade
IFA National Sheep Chairman John Lynskey said the fall in lamb prices at the factories in the last week of up to 60c/kg or €13 per lamb is very severe and impacting very negatively on farm incomes. He said the tactics of the factories of running ahead of the market and pulling back quotes is undermining confidence in the trade.
The IFA Sheep Chairman called on the factories to show some leadership in the sheep sector and stabilise prices at this important time. “Irish lamb is a real price setter on the export markets at this time of year and the factories have a key role to play in ensuring price returns to Irish farmers remain at viable levels. Price volatility of 50c to 60c/kg in one week is not helpful and unnecessarily destabilises the trade.”
John Lynskey also called for major promotions of lamb with the retailers on both the domestic and export markets. He said the price falls at farm level cannot be pocket by retailers and processors and must be passed on to consumers to drive consumption.
The IFA Sheep farmers’ leader said lamb supplies have been very strong to date this year with the weekly kill on new season lamb consistently ahead of last year’s levels. For the last 12 weeks the kill is running at 3,000 to 7,000 ahead of 2013 levels with some weekly kills reaching 57,000 head.
