A significant lift in the number of lambs being sold in Scotland and the UK took place during Royal Highland Show week, according to the latest market analysis by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).
“This year during the week beginning 15th June, Scottish auctions sold 60% more new season lambs than the previous week and one third more than during the same week a year ago,” observed Stuart Ashworth, QMS head of economics services.
According to Ashworth grass and lamb growth rates and the start of Ramadan have influenced the higher volume of new season lambs reaching the market in 2015.
“Ramadan is an important Muslim festival that moves forward in the calendar by a fortnight each year. There is some evidence looking at the past few years to suggest that it supports prices until it begins but then prices come under pressure, although there can be a short-lived lift in the final week of Ramadan,” Ashworth said.
This increase has coincided with a dip in lamb prices of around 20p/kg/lw, generating concern from sheep farmers.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
