Factories are attempting to put a ceiling in prices.
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With the bank holiday weekend and wall to wall sunshine, factories were still having to work hard over the weekend to persuade farmers to sell cattle. They are however trying hard to put a ceiling in place for cattle quotes with €4.10/kg the freely available quote for steers but getting above this usually comes with strings attached such as a good number of cattle with all of the specification buttons pressed. In that case farmers can better this but factories are trying to resist.
Keen demand for heifers
There is a very keen demand for heifers with €4.20/kg the base quote but it is easier for farmers with heifers to sell to push this figure upwards than it is for steers, with €4.25/kg very achievable for suitable stock. Young bulls are working of a base around €4.00/kg for under 16 months with bulls over 16 months generally being prices around €4.10/kg for U’s and R’s with good flexibility on weights. As factories are working to keep a lid on headline quotes, it is around the margins such as weight and transport that farmers are reporting some success in getting deals. It also helps explain why exceptional deals have been secured for batches of plainer cattle, flat rate off the grid.
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Cows like heifers are an exceptionally strong trade with cow killing factories determined not to miss any good lots of cows. At the top end exceptional U grading cows will freely make €3.70/kg, R’s €3.60/kg and O’s & P’s making €3.25-3€3.45/kg. With cows farmers with numbers to sell are in a very strong negotiating position.
Pressure on sales in Britain
The strengthening of the euro against sterling by over three cents in the past week puts pressure on sales to Britain and in turn takes some of the edge of factories in moving the price upwards. The euro has moved from a rate of €0.755 a week ago to almost €0.79 = £1 today on the back of recent opinion polls suggesting the UK is more likely to vote for Brexit than had been the case for several weeks.
Northern Ireland
In the north the official quotes are £3.14/kg - £3.16/kg for the U-3 grade steers (€4.19/kg - €4.22/kg) with 2p/kg (3c/kg) more for heifers. However these have been described as a starting point for negotiation with the LMC publishing analysis in its bulletin at the weekend that prices paid are on average up to 8p/kg (10c/kg) ahead of quotes on R-3 grade steer prices. The gap between quotes and price paid has been as low as 4p/kg (5c/kg) and the overall average difference for 2016 year to date is 6p/kg (7.5c/kg).
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With the bank holiday weekend and wall to wall sunshine, factories were still having to work hard over the weekend to persuade farmers to sell cattle. They are however trying hard to put a ceiling in place for cattle quotes with €4.10/kg the freely available quote for steers but getting above this usually comes with strings attached such as a good number of cattle with all of the specification buttons pressed. In that case farmers can better this but factories are trying to resist.
Keen demand for heifers
There is a very keen demand for heifers with €4.20/kg the base quote but it is easier for farmers with heifers to sell to push this figure upwards than it is for steers, with €4.25/kg very achievable for suitable stock. Young bulls are working of a base around €4.00/kg for under 16 months with bulls over 16 months generally being prices around €4.10/kg for U’s and R’s with good flexibility on weights. As factories are working to keep a lid on headline quotes, it is around the margins such as weight and transport that farmers are reporting some success in getting deals. It also helps explain why exceptional deals have been secured for batches of plainer cattle, flat rate off the grid.
Cows like heifers are an exceptionally strong trade with cow killing factories determined not to miss any good lots of cows. At the top end exceptional U grading cows will freely make €3.70/kg, R’s €3.60/kg and O’s & P’s making €3.25-3€3.45/kg. With cows farmers with numbers to sell are in a very strong negotiating position.
Pressure on sales in Britain
The strengthening of the euro against sterling by over three cents in the past week puts pressure on sales to Britain and in turn takes some of the edge of factories in moving the price upwards. The euro has moved from a rate of €0.755 a week ago to almost €0.79 = £1 today on the back of recent opinion polls suggesting the UK is more likely to vote for Brexit than had been the case for several weeks.
Northern Ireland
In the north the official quotes are £3.14/kg - £3.16/kg for the U-3 grade steers (€4.19/kg - €4.22/kg) with 2p/kg (3c/kg) more for heifers. However these have been described as a starting point for negotiation with the LMC publishing analysis in its bulletin at the weekend that prices paid are on average up to 8p/kg (10c/kg) ahead of quotes on R-3 grade steer prices. The gap between quotes and price paid has been as low as 4p/kg (5c/kg) and the overall average difference for 2016 year to date is 6p/kg (7.5c/kg).
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