13 JANUARY 2021

ICSA sheep chair Sean McNamara has said lamb supplies will remain tight into the spring and continue to fuel strong demand. “Factories are crying out for lambs at present with prices up to €6.50/kg available this week. The demand is there, but farmers still need to push on price. Supplies will remain tight for a while yet, so a collective push is needed to keep the momentum going for better prices,” he said.

“With less lamb coming into Europe from New Zealand, and increased bureaucracy around UK suppliers shipping to Europe, the opportunity is there for us to increase supplies to our existing markets and also to break into new markets. But we need to see the benefits filter down to the primary producer, and while €6.50/kg is better than €6.20 or €6.30 it still does not cover the cost of production.”

ENDS