IFA Sheep committee chairman Kevin Comiskey said there is no justification in the market place for the attempts by factories to drop lamb prices. The IFA sheep chairman said hogget numbers have all but dried up at this stage and lamb supplies are running 5,000 a week below last year’s levels.
What’s more, he said demand for sheep meat is strong and will increase as the Eid al Adha festival approaches in early July. Live shippers are already very active in the marts buying lambs for this trade and freely paying well above what some factories are offering for lambs.
Comiskey said farmers should strongly resist the attempts by factories to reduce prices and consider the mart outlet if factories are not stepping up to the plate where live export buying is underpinning the trade. In addition, he said the importation of over 4,000 lambs from Northern Ireland by sheep factories in the week before they decide to attempt to drop prices to Irish farmers does not stack up.
He said that clearly there is strong demand for lamb in the market place and this must come through to farmers in strong stable prices for sheep meat to reflect our on-farm production costs.
Lamb price update as of 16 June, 2022
Hogget €7.20/7.50/kg. Spring lamb €8.20/8.40/kg. Weights to 21kg. Higher deals groups/larger lots. Ewes €4.00/4.30/kg.