Lamb market update: Lowest October slaughter figures on record in the UK

Published 2024년 11월 29일

Tridge summary

UK sheep meat production has seen a significant decrease of 7% from January to October, totaling 218,000 tonnes, due to challenging growing conditions and smaller breeding numbers. This has led to a 7% reduction in adult and clean sheep slaughter. Despite the domestic production decline, imports of fresh and frozen sheep meat have surged by 44%, with a notable 64% increase in imports from Australia. Meanwhile, UK exports have also seen a 7% decrease, with a primary export being lamb carcasses to the EU for processing. There has been an increase in exports to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, resulting in a higher proportion of sheep meat exported to the EU compared to the rest of the world.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

UK sheep meat production has fallen significantly since 2023, currently at 7% lower for the period of January to October. Production has totalled 218,000 tonnes so far this year, with October’s volumes at 25,000 tonnes. A decline in adult and clean sheep slaughter, 12.5% and 7% year-to-date reduction respectively, has contributed to this overall decline in production. This is likely an influence of both difficult growing conditions this year and smaller breeding numbers illustrated by 2024’s lower female breeding flock in England, down 5.6% as of 1st of June compared to the same time in 2023 with figures for the UK set to be released in the new year. Clean sheep kill has totalled 9.29m head to October this year, a fall of 704,000 head compared to this time last year. October kill sat at 1.09m head, an increase of 133,500 from September’s figure but 18,000 head behind 2023. October is the first month of 2024 to exceed 1m head slaughtered, yet this figure remains the smallest ...

Source: Ahdb