This week’s sheep trade has been much more positive following significant price cuts inflicted last week.

Factories have been more anxious to source lambs, with some regular supply channels ceasing drafting of lambs on the back of lower prices.

This forced factories to reassess base quotes offered and led to plants increasing prices by 10c/kg to 20c/kg in a bid to encourage higher numbers forward.

Kildare Chilling’s quote of €6.70/kg to 22.5kg carcase weight plus its 10c/kg quality assurance (QA) bonus is an increase of 20c/kg on last week. The two ICM plants in Camolin and Navan are quoting a base price of €6.50/kg plus 10c/kg QA.

There is a wider differential between prices being quoted and prices being paid, with factories forced to pay higher to specialist finishers to move lambs.

Prices paid at the lower end of the market now range from €6.70/kg to €6.80/kg, while producer groups and regular sellers are securing €6.90/kg.

Specialist finishers and those handling large numbers have secured returns of €7/kg and higher on occasion, but this has been confined to large consignments numbering anywhere from 100 to in excess of 200 head.

Heavy carcases remain an issue, with some plants reporting anywhere from 20% to 30% of lambs delivering carcases in excess of 25kg.

Price penalties remain a feature of these sales and the level of penalty applied is dependent on the number of lambs supplied and the percentage falling out of spec. Where imposed, cuts range from 30c/kg to top prices being curtailed to €145 to €150.

Outgoing IFA sheep chair Sean Dennehy said: “The return to normal opening hours for the food service sector is driving domestic demand for lamb and sheepmeat.

“The numbers of lambs in factories is low and €6.90/kg is freely available, with some deals of €7.00/kg and over reported as factories struggle to fill orders.

“Cuts applied for overweight lambs by factories are not necessary and must stop as processing capacity has improved and so too has demand.”

The trade in Northern Ireland is also looking more positive, despite factories retaining quotes at £5.40/kg or the equivalent of €6.49/kg at 83.5p to the euro.

The number of lambs imported south for direct slaughter remains in the region of 6,000 head, with throughput in northern plants reducing by about 500 head to 7,893.

Factory agents are keen to ward off interest from southern buyers and are paying 10p/kg to 20p/kg above quoted prices to large suppliers.