Sheep trade: Ireland 'can't compete' with NZ and Australian imports

As prices in the sheep trade have remained low for farmers this week, the effects of other countries expanding their trade to Europe was acknowledged by some in the Irish trade as meaning Irish farmers “can’t compete” with such low prices.

Speaking on the Irish sheep trade this week, the chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) National Sheep Committee, Kevin Comiskey, referred to the impact that New Zealand (NZ) and Australian sheepmeat imports to the UK will have on Irish sheep prices.

Comiskey said: “You have the NZ lamb coming in at €3.95/kg, and you have the Australian coming in at €2.89/kg.

“That’s supplying the UK market, and the UK lamb is making its way to the European market and distorting the market and putting it under pressure.

“You can’t compete, our biggest market is between the UK and France, and when NZ and Australia are putting in lamb at those prices, we can’t compete at over €6.00/kg.”

The current poor condition of many lambs coming in to Irish lamb processers this week is similar to those in recent weeks, with Irish Country Meats (ICM) general manager James Smyth saying: “The big challenge is the lighter, plainer, leaner type lambs for farmers and processors.

“There’s nothing more disappointing for a producer to find a lamb is 17kg on his docket.”

Sheep trade – spring lamb

This week, ICM is offering €6.00/kg plus a 20c quality assurance (QA) bonus, bringing its offering to €6.20/kg up to a 22kg carcass weight for a spring lamb – the same as last week.

Kildare Chilling is not quoting for spring lambs this week, but other outlets have offered €6.00/kg plus a QA bonus of 15c/kg, a total of €6.15/kg for a spring lamb.

Hoggets

ICM is quoting €4.80/kg plus a QA bonus of 20c up to 23kg for hoggets this week, a total of €5.00/kg which is again, the same price on offer as last week.

Demand from other outlets has been low for hoggets, with Kildare Chilling not quoting this week.