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, with 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.

See also: Lamb prices hit £7/kg at abattoirs and likely to stay high

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.

Ramadan is now under way and Easter is fast approaching, which means there is a chance that demand could begin to ease once current orders are filled. However, the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr in mid-April could help drive some more interest from buyers in the coming weeks.

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.

However, lamb exports are likely to face more price resistance as GB prices continue to reach new highs.

Tight supply

A smaller carryover of lambs from last year is also supporting trade, with reduced numbers available.

Defra figures for February show UK clean sheep slaughterings were down by 76,000 head on the previous month.

Average carcass weights were also slightly lower in February, as producers sold lambs earlier to benefit from the higher prices.

Analysts at Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales) said: “It is forecast that the 2024-25 lamb crop in the UK will remain largely the same, perhaps slightly larger than the previous crop, but industry reports of diseases such as the Schmallenberg virus will further affect numbers.”