CONSUMERS CAN expect to pay higher prices this year for their Easter lamb because of a scarcity of supplies. The main reason for the shortage of supply is that Easter has come unusually early this year.
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association has warned consumers to be very careful this Easter to check they are getting what they are paying for because of the large amounts of imported lamb. Mervyn Sunderland, chairman of its sheep committee,said the "country is awash with cheaply produced, untraceable New Zealand lamb" and buyers should check carefully if they were looking for home produced product.
Tommy Fitzgibbon, president of the Association of Craft Butchers of Ireland, said consumers could expect to pay €37 for the genuine article this year.
"It is not much more expensive than last year but because of the early Easter, there is less of it around the place and harder to get so it has to be more expensive," said the Clare-based butcher.
He said there were only four pens of market-ready Easter lamb at the mart in Kilkenny this week, far fewer than in previous years. "There is plenty of Irish hogget [ lamb up to a year old] available but the Easter lamb is more difficult to source."
He advised consumers to buy their product from local family butchers who could guarantee the quality and source of the lamb they sell, rather than from retail multiples. The chairman of the Irish Farmers Association's sheep committee, Henry Burns, urged consumers to seek out Easter lamb which would be in the shops this weekend.
"Easter lamb is expensive and is a niche market and lambs are scarce this year. The spring lamb season would not normally open until next month but there is plenty of it around."
He said the average retail price for lamb was up 8 per cent to €9.77/kg but farmers were receiving only €3.72/kg, highlighting the difference between the consumer and producer price. However, he feared for the future of the industry because the prices sheep farmers were receiving from the market place. "The figures, which show a drop in the breeding ewe figures from 4.7 million to 2.8 million now, tell the whole story."
He added that there had been a corresponding drop in the number of sheep farmers from 45,000 10 years ago to 33,000 now.
"We have been meeting the supermarkets and meat factories saying that unless we work together and farmers get a guaranteed price, there could come a time when we will not be able to service even the home market with lamb."
Figures for sheepmeat consumption last year were very encouraging with expenditure up 11 per cent to €127 million.
Lamb, he said, accounted for 8 per cent of Irish household fresh meat purchase, with volumes increasing by 3 per cent and the average retail price up by 8 per cent.