FMD Market Impact to Persist, says Eblex
UK - Backlogs of up to 400,000 head of lambs and 19,000 prime cattle across Great Britain - which will have grown further through October – will take the rest of 2007 and early 2008 to clear says the English Beef and Lamb Executive (Eblex).Eblex says liveweight prices have been affected to a noticeably greater extent than deadweight values. At 80p/kg, the average SQQ price for finished lambs in the first three weeks of October was 28 per cent down on the trade before foot-and-mouth. However, the Executive claims carcases averaged 207p/kg over the same period.
Even greater falls have been recorded in the lighter weight lamb categories as a result of export restrictions which cut UK exports by 5,200 tonnes or 67 per cent in August alone and resulted in some 200,000-250,000 more sheep being directed to the domestic market.
The relative seasonality of marketings has meant the cattle trade has been proportionately less affected with prime cattle slaughterings down 7 per cent on 2006 in both August and September.
Source: Farmers Guardian