Soaring lamb trade reaches new record high of £8/kg
Finished deadweight lambs have surpassed £8/kg for top E- and U-grades in the past week.
Tight supplies and exceptional demand driving up prices to new all-time highs.
The GB old-season lamb SQQ averaged 789.8p/kg, an increase of 46.1p/kg on the previous week, and up by almost £2/kg since the beginning of the year.
There is further talk among traders of several processors paying highs of between £8.20/kg and £8.80/kg deadweight for best lambs this week as they battle for limited numbers.
Prime lambs have been achieving more than £4/kg liveweight at auction marts, with auctioneers saying that many pens of hoggs have been selling for £200+ a head.
An elevated market in Europe has also helped to facilitate some export trade, with EU deadweight heavy lambs up by 13% on the year to average €8.05/kg deadweight (£6.88/kg) in mid-March, according to the EU Commission.
Charlie Reeve | Farmers Weekly
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