The sliding lamb trade experienced in the last few weeks has taken another hit in the first prime sheep sales of the week, with most markets reporting a falling trade yesterday compared to the previous week. The overall GB SQQ average for yesterday dropped by 6.88p/kg to 155.94p/kg for more than 26,000 lambs traded.
At Carlisle the trade for prime lambs leveled at 162.41p/kg, a fall of 12.25p/kg on last week, while at Sedgemoor prices averaged 160.94p/kg, back by just 1.14p/kg on seven days previously.
The trend is GB wide, with Lanark and St Boswells both reporting a slacker trade this week. At Lanark the lamb trade averaged 159.10p/kg, a drop of 7.34p/kg, while at St Boswells prices leveled at 154.87p/kg, a 10.30p/kg fall.
Taking the smallest hit from what I’ve seen was Welshpool where trade was back by just 0.76p/kg, but with lambs averaging 152.53p/kg it was clearly a less than flying trade. In the midlands Winslow Market saw prices back by 7.69p/kg to average 158.58p/kg.
There’s little talk in the trade as to where things are heading for the rest of this week, but I very much doubt there will be a major shift upwards in the near future.
Numbers presented are up and down across the country, with no pattern suggesting a glut on the market driving prices back. However, what is apparent is that there are significant numbers of lambs falling outside of the SQQ spec which could well be hindering the trade and giving processors some leverage in the marketplace at the moment.
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