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Lamb prices jump up
Thursday, 11 November 2021
Throughout the past week lamb prices have increased sharply, with the weekly liveweight SQQ up almost 20p. During the week ending 10 November the GB NSL liveweight SQQ increased to 269.05p/kg. Such sharp movement is uncommon and usually follows, or is followed by a correction, unless throughputs are low, leading to volatile prices. Sharp movements are rarely sustained in the lamb market. There are two previous occasions in recent times, but both were downward price movements. The first was in March 2020 when the old season lambs SQQ dropped suddenly overnight as the UK and France both entered their first pandemic-related lockdowns. The other occasion was more recent and perhaps for less obvious reasons; in June 2021 lamb prices dropped sharply as they came off the record-breaking high spring price peak.
However, some industry comments suggest though that this movement up in price level could very well be sustained, with the potential for the increases to continue.
But why have prices risen? The short answer would be lack of supply, and why is that? Currently that is the million-dollar question. At current price levels, you would have expected numbers to be drawn out. This week we have seen auction market throughputs pick up with 134,000 head coming forwards, a week-on-week rise of 28%. Reports indicate that more would have been purchased if they’d been available. This pick up is still a drop in the ocean compared to the lower kill levels recorded in recent months. Prices in France are strong and rising too, exceeding £6.50/kg in the week ending 1 November. A challenging shipping market is removing the potential for New Zealand to send large volumes into Europe.
In the week ended 6 November the GB NSL deadweight SQQ rose 23p, to 556.5p/kg. Estimated kill for the week recorded a decline of 15%, to 221,000 head.
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