Lamb prices tumble despite thousands fewer sheep at auction

Liveweight lamb prices have slipped more than 10p/kg in a week despite a 34% decrease in the numbers being brought to market.

The GB new season SQQ fell 10.7p/kg to 142.1p/kg in the week ending 3 October even though nearly 37,500 fewer head of sheep were auctioned.

The stubbornly lower prices were mainly down to the end of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, which had kept demand up, said AHDB Beef and Lamb.

Mark Kozlowski, the levy board’s senior analyst on sheep, said this had combined with the continuing unfavourable exchange rate between the pound and the euro, which had made exports tricky and sluggish consumer demand more generally.

Producers in Wales saw the biggest fall in prices – 12.4p/kg knocked off on the week – to an average 140.9p/kg.

But Scottish producers were faced with the lowest average price – of 138.6p/kg, while English producers had the highest prices – of 143.6p/kg.

The GB price slipped below the 140p/kg mark for the first time this year on 30 September – to  139.4p/kg, said Mr Kozlowski.

The lower prices would likely discourage producers taking their stock to auction, so throughput could fall even lower in the next couple of weeks, said Mr Kozlowski.

There is uncertainty around the size of Britain’s lamb crop this year, with AHDB predicting it would be higher than last year, while Defra has estimated it is below last year’s crop.