Tipperary farming: Sheep market has seen a ‘savage drop’ in prices

Concerns have been raised over the sheep market, with one farm organisation saying that the hogget price had taken a “serious hit”.

ICSA sheep chairman Sean McNamara has said that quotes were at €5.30, well below the typical price in excess of €6 over the past few weeks.

“Covid-19 seems to have hit the sheep trade really. ICSA is calling for an explanation from meat plants as to the exact cause of this,” he said.

Mr McNamara said that it was not good enough to collapse price without so much as an outline of what was happening.

“We also need an explanation as to why processors are continuing to import lambs from the North at this time. There is no excuse for bringing in lamb when market demand is falling,” he said.

The sheep leader said that Bord Bia, too, needed to step up and outline what was going on in markets. While ICSA understood that some volatility was a consequence of Covid-19 uncertainty, this was a “savage drop” and farmers wanted answers
Mr McNamara said he would fight very hard to resist the price collapse.

“However, we need Minister Creed to understand that Covid-19 is now having the biggest impact on the sheep sector and we need help urgently.

Meanwhile, IFA national sheep chairman Sean Dennehy said it was critical to keep the supply chain operational and farmers needed to continue to observe and implement the strict protocols in place.

“The closure of the restaurants and food service sector has been somewhat compensated by a stronger retail trade, with many more people eating at home,” he said.

Mr Dennehy pointed out that, to date, 100,000 more lambs had been processed than this time last year and demand will increase for Easter and Ramadan.

It was clear that Minister Creed will have to make a strong case for the EU Commission to step in to support the trade and farmers.