After a prolonged period when Irish cattle prices dropped below the EU average, recent increases have moved Irish R3 price back above the average. We are now ahead of the R3 young bull in all of our main euro market destinations with the exception of Italy. Prices in Britain are the equivalent of 25c/kg ahead of Ireland. Although this is the smallest gap in some time, it still represents €95/head on a 380kg animal.

British prices are still the flagship of Europe, averaging the equivalent of €4.10/kg for the first week of April. As always, there are considerable regional differences, with Scotland on the equivalent of €4.27/kg, Northern, central England and Wales average the equivalent of €4.13/kg, and southern England average €4.22/kg. Northern Ireland averaged the equivalent of €4.07/kg.

France and Germany 14c/kg below Ireland

On the continent, Ireland's main euro market is France. R3 young bulls there are averaging €3.71/kg, which is 14c/kg below Ireland’s average of €3.85/kg. Germany is also averaging €3.71/kg, while Italy is 10c/kg ahead of Ireland with an average of €3.95/kg on R3 young bulls.

The big driver for the improvement of Ireland’s relative price position compared with the countries we sell beef to is cattle numbers. For much of the early part of this year, the weekly kill was around 35,000. However, with numbers now closer to 30,000, factories are more aggressively chasing supply. With less beef available, they are probably in a position to hold out for a stronger selling price to their customers where there is open trading.

Another boost has been the strong performance of manufacturing beef for a sustained period, with even the lower spec product selling well in Asia.

Read more

Ireland edges up EU beef price league