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The sheep trade has gained further momentum this week with quotes rising by another 5c/kg to 10c/kg.
Kildare Chilling has taken the lead in the market with its 10c/kg increase lifting its base quote to €4.80/kg with the possibility of a 10c/kg top-up for quality-assured lambs.
Other plants have followed in their lead with all quotes now exceeding €4.70/kg.
This puts top prices paid to producer groups working on a base price-plus-bonus mechanism to €5/kg and higher.
It also lifts prices paid across the board with a high percentage of lambs now selling at a price range of €4.80/kg to €4.90/kg, with regular sellers securing 5c/kg to 10c/kg higher.
Last week’s kill recorded an increase of 12,651 head to total 66,638.
This comes, however, on the back of the kill falling by over 7,000 head due to a day’s less processing for the bank holiday Monday with the balance enticed forward by the offer of higher prices.
Tight supplies
Supplies also remain relatively tight with some mart managers reporting smaller entries this week as farmers battle with challenging weather to get lambs fit for slaughter.
The kill for the year to date is now running 226,686 head above 2016 levels with over 150,000 extra of this kill stemming from higher hogget and cull ewe throughput, while approximately 50,000 extra lambs have been processed since May after a slow start to throughput.
Sheep trends: top quote rises to €4.80/kg
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