Cutting lamb prices again will infuriate farmers, says ICSA chair

ICSA Sheep chair Willie Shaw has said that any move by processors to cut lamb prices again next week will rightly infuriate sheep farmers, particularly at a time when supplies have collapsed. “It is one thing getting a bad price when there is an oversupply - but getting a bad price when there’s an undersupply is something else entirely,” he said.

Continuing, Mr Shaw said, “We are in the middle of a supply collapse. New figures show that throughput is down 16% for the year, yet Irish processors are threatening more cuts. It defies logic, fairness, and any sense of a functioning market - and it’s driving the sector over the edge.”

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According to the latest figures from the Department of Agriculture, just 36,643 sheep were slaughtered here last week, down 1,588 head on the previous week, and nearly 11,000 fewer than the same week in 2024. Year-to-date throughput is down 232,921 head, which is on top of a drop of over 370,000 head in 2024.

Continuing Mr Shaw said, “In just 18 months, over 600,000 fewer sheep have been processed as farmers cut back or exit the sector entirely because the figures don’t stack up.

Meanwhile, the processors just carry on regardless, conjuring up excuses to slash prices further. Farmers in France and Spain are getting up to €1.40/kg more at the minute. Here, we’re facing another cut. How can anyone justify that?”

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Mr Shaw said that the situation has now reached a point where cattle prices are ahead of lamb. “I honestly can’t remember a time when beef prices were higher than lamb. Lamb has always carried a premium due to its seasonality and lighter carcase. The fact that cattle are now pulling ahead says it all - sheep farming is being slowly eroded into oblivion.”