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The beef trade has been steady in the build towards Easter. Prices are quoted at £3.66/kg for R, or better grading heifers under 400 carcase weight at fat class 3L or 4. Similar steers are getting around £3.61/kg. Bull prices are sitting at around 10p/kg behind steers.
On average, the trade this year is 20p/kg above last spring with kill numbers not dramatically different being only 1.8% back. It is hoped that prices will not tumble towards May to the same extent as 2016.
The Scottish beef premium is being squeezed with the north of England seeing stronger average prices. Much of this is being put down to the large kill of Aberdeen Angus premium cattle at Dovecot Park raising the average quoted price. But comparing like with like, the trade is similar north and south of the border. At the market peak in 2016, there was over a 20p difference in average heifer prices in Scotland and England.
More Scottish steers in the market
In 2016, many processers urged farmers to cut their bulls, based on the premise that retailers only wanted steers and heifers. Anecdotally many farmers followed this advice leading to more Scottish steers currently in the market. While the 2016 bull crop will not come forward in numbers until May/June time, we can already see the bull kill has fallen 12%. Please remember some of this could also be down to falling dairy calf registrations. We will watch to see if this pattern continues.
Processors are saying that there are more cattle within specification compared to previous years. This is backed up with the average steer weight in January recorded 4kg lighter than in 2016. Average heifer and bull weights have also fallen slightly year on year. This coincides with anecdotal evidence on farms of producers making a greater effort to get cattle away lighter. Total beef volume production in Scotland might be down 2% year on year but this will be balance by a slight rise in production in England and Wales.
Strong cow trade
The cow trade remains strong with the R grade cows over 300kg getting between £2.70-£2.80 a kilo. Cow beef is being more strongly influenced by the weak pound with strong Irish demand driving prices.
The store trade seems to be very buoyant with some sales up £100/head on average compared to last year. However, finishers might be left in a tight spot with many purchasing cattle at £2.40/kg liveweight and selling at the equivalent of £2.05/kg liveweight. They will be hoping for another rising trade in the build up to Easter to have any prospect of delivering a margin.
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