Eid boosts lamb prices in the UK

Demand coming from the Eid al-Adha festival helped to boost both liveweight and deadweight lamb prices in the UK last week. During the week ending July 14, the Great Britain (GB) new season lamb (NSL) standard quality quotation (SQQ) was 251.21p/kg - up 0.95p/kg on the week. While during the week ending July 10, the GB deadweight NSL SQQ increased by 27.6p/kg to 546.4p/kg. Although throughput was strong in the lead-up to the festival, the sheep kill to date this year is well back, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) noted.

Lamb kill back 11% for June in the UK

Throughput of lambs and ewes for the month of June recorded large year-on-year declines, the AHDB noted. For June, the lamb kill stood at 881,000 head - which was back 11% on the year. Although, this is not surprising, as GB auction markets witnessed "exceptionally low" throughput during the last week of the month.

Furthermore, the ewe kill was also back substantially - down 27% to 81,000 head. Although, the AHDB said, this continues the trend recorded over the past 12 months, it is once again in conflict with throughputs at GB auction markets where numbers have continued to be buoyant. Total sheepmeat production was back 12% to stand at 19,800t. Looking at the first six months of the year, 5.1 million lambs have come forward - which is 491,000 head fewer than during the same time period in 2020. While a similar story has been seen with ewes, with numbers back 165,000 head.