Record high lamb prices

In the week ending March 10, the liveweight old season lamb SQQ rose by 13p/kg on the week to average 293.0p/kg, 88p/kg above the five-year average.

Farmgate prices for prime sheep since the beginning of 2021 have been some of the highest on record and Stuart Ashworth, director of economic services at Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), said it was an indication of firm demand and weak supply.

“Certainly, in the UK, slaughter data and auction market throughputs indicate a shortage of domestic supply,” he said.

According to Defra, January prime sheep slaughter volumes were down 18 per cent with auction market throughputs down.

“Auction markets do though report an increase in the proportion of prime sheep sold falling within the SQQ weight range,” Mr Ashworth said.

AHDB livestock analyst Charlie Reeve said the tight supply of lambs was reflected in the current high prices for both deadweight and liveweight lamb, with the deadweight old season lamb SQQ still in excess of £6/kg.

Mr Reeve said: “Throughputs do tend to fall during first few months of the year, with the monthly lamb kill picking up with the new season crop in the autumn.

“However, throughputs this February are well below the five-year-average, 126,000-head lower for the month.”