Lamb promoting campaigns impacting demand
Prime lamb prices have shown signs of firmness over the past week, according to Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), after falling during the previous four weeks, indicating demand in the wholesale market on the back of lamb campaigns.
Prices rose by 7p/kg liveweight, taking the average price back in line with prices during the same period in 2016, according to QMS’s head of economics services, Stuart Ashworth.
Stuart Ashworth, head of economics services with QMS.
The lift in average price would indicate “firm demand in the wholesale market for lambs often described as ‘supermarket lambs’ suggesting QMS’s current Scotch Lamb PGI marketing campaign and the GB-wide Love Lamb Week promotions are having an impact on demand.”
In addition, with the UK lamb slaughter figures between June and the end of August unchanged on last year and auction throughputs in September lower than last year there is a suggestion, according to QMS, that there may be a greater number of lambs remaining to be marketed than last year.
Ashworth added that lamb marketings in the Republic of Ireland have been running more than 2% higher than last year since June and commented: “Meanwhile, in the main sheep meat export market of France, slaughterings of lambs have been lower than year-earlier levels in June, July and August.”
“This created some opportunity for an increase in sheepmeat deliveries to France to cover the fall in French lamb numbers which the UK and Ireland were able to exploit,” he said.
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