Calls for £6.12/kg dead as markets see lamb prices rocket
A 20-30p/kg jump in liveweight lamb values has prompted calls for processors to offer more than £6/kg for lambs to secure volume.
Store lamb buyers will take heart from the early November rise after spending £85-£90 a head on long-term store lambs.
Many say the strong trade is “supply driven”, following a 9.4% reduction in sheep numbers in anticipation of Brexit, leaving breeding females at an eight-year low of 15.3-million head.
Carlisle’s SQQ hit 301p/kg on Monday (9 November), with Ross, Ludlow and Skipton among centres to see trade pass 280p/kg.
Livestock agent Stephen Kirkup said meat firms were short-staffed and had been very “hand-to-mouth” all autumn, with very little surplus in the chillers.
Mr Kirkup said: “I’d say the supply isn’t there, because good prices usually see farms selling more the week after, toppling the market – that hasn’t happened this autumn.”
A tail-end show of lambs achieved an SQQ of 281.1p/kg at Rugby on Monday (8 November), with the region’s supply currently seeing breeders’ lambs drying up and store lambs in limited numbers.
by Michael Priestley / Farmers Weekly
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