Lamb Price Stable with Tight Supplies – IFA

IFA National Sheep Committee Chairman John Lynskey said the lamb trade is stable to stronger this week with factories paying €4.70 to €4.75 and tops of €4.80 paid.

He said factories are finding it difficult to get the numbers and are having to pay 20c/30c above quoted prices. He said weights have also moved up to 22kgs everywhere.

On ewes, John Lynskey said there is more demand from the factories and prices have moved up with €2.70/kg available.

John Lynskey said the live export trade is more active with buyers moving to put together lambs ahead of the Id-ul-Adha Muslin festival which starts on September 13th.

In the UK, John Lynskey said lambs had also kicked on in price, with the auction marts paying 186p/kg live weight on Saturday August 5th, which is the equivalent of about €5.00/kg deadweight including VAT.

On numbers, John Lynskey said the latest kill figures for 30th July show the weekly kill back at 52,459 compared to 62,159 for the same week in 2015. However the overall kill is running 4.4% ahead of 2015 levels according to Department figures.

The IFA Sheep Chairman said the Department of Agriculture released details of the 2015 National Sheep Census last week and the key message is that the ewe flock has stabilised and risen slightly by 82,627, and now stands at 2,503,011 ewes.

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