Promotional activity may be factor in livestock price increases
Promotional activity behind lamb and the media coverage of the wider debate on farm prices, may be starting to exert some influence on farmgate lamb prices, according to Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).
Stuart Ashworth: “The biggest movement has been in auction market prices for prime lambs”.
Stuart Ashworth, QMS head of economics services, said: “The biggest movement has been in auction market prices for prime lambs which have shown a significant lift”.
Ashworth also noted, however, that lamb prices continue to struggle to match last year’s levels because, compared to last year, the market remains well supplied with British lamb.
Slaughter statistics for Great Britain show a 3.5% increase in prime sheep slaughtering over May, June and July assisted by a higher than expected hogg kill in May and June.
“A trend for producers to sell heavier weight lambs, resulting in the average carcase weight increasing by 0.5kg per lamb, has resulted in a lamb production increase of almost 8% in the first three months of the current lamb crop year.
“Meanwhile ewe slaughterings have fallen 10% and mutton production is down eight percent. In this case, however, reduced production has not aided cull ewe market prices which have, since June, generally been lower than last year,” Ashworth added.
Also offering some support for lamb prices has been the weakening of sterling which has seen a move from one euro buying 70p in late August to buying around 73p currently.
This accounts for a 4% increase in sterling value without changing euro value, making UK lamb more competitive on the European stage.
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