Lamb prices on a rollercoaster ride

So FAR this season the Scottish prime lamb market has been on a roller coaster with disappointing market returns during May followed by a strong rally through June, then falling back in the first half of this month.

Now, with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starting next Friday, there is some prospect of demand remaining reasonable in the short term, according to Stuart Ashworth, Quality Meat Scotland’s marketing guru.

“A number of elements are influencing the market,” he said. “New season lambs have been slow to arrive, perhaps not surprising given the impact of poor weather on growth rates.

“However, by the end of June the numbers coming forward were slightly ahead of last year and although auction volumes dipped in early July the total lamb kill remains slightly ahead of last year.”

Ashworth said that it looked as if the weather had taken its toll on lamb quality with the proportion of lambs hitting the top grades being a couple of percentage points lower than last year.