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Due to a production error, incorrect official heifer prices appeared in this week's print edition. The correct official heifer prices are included here:
Factories have been trying to lower quotes in recent days, with many quoting a base of €3.65/kg for steers and €3.75/kg for heifers. Their efforts were helped at the start of the week by heavy rainfall encouraging farmers on wet lands to move stock quicker. However, this pressure has lessened in recent days, with fine weather forecast until at least the end of the week.
As such, there is variability in prices paid between regions, with many sellers in the south and east of the country in a stronger position and commanding a base of €3.70/kg for steers and €3.80/kg for heifers. Numbers are also slowly showing signs of reducing, with independent plants with a smaller supply base keen not to let deals slip through their grasp.
The same can be said of specialised finishers supplying the main processing plants, although plants located in more marginal areas are having greater success in buying at the lower base.
Flat-priced deals for quality assured (QA) Friesian steers under 30 months of age range from €3.55/kg to €3.60/kg for fleshed O grading steers and €3.45/kg to €3.50/kg for P grades. Flat-priced deals for butcher-type heifers range from €3.60/kg to €3.70/kg for Angus and Hereford types.
Sellers should enquire about carcase weight limits before moving light heifers. Factories are receiving higher numbers of light carcases from growing numbers of beef -cross-dairy animals and are becoming more selective and, in cases, offering lower quotes for animals not meeting spec.
Cows steady
Cow throughput is holding firm, with last week’s kill marginally easing from 8,117 to 7,987. P+3 grading cows range anywhere from €2.80/kg to €3.00/kg at the top end of the market, with O grades from €2.90/kg to €3.00/kg in general and €3.10/kg at the higher end of the price range.
Again, sellers with poor-quality, under-fleshed cows should agree price deductions before sale, with prices for very poor-quality cows as low as €2.00/kg to €2.30/kg for light carcase cows with very little flesh cover. R grades are selling from €3.10/kg to €3.25/kg, with U grades rising to €3.35/kg in specialist plants.
The bull kill in contrast is small, with only 2,188 bulls killed last week. R grade bulls are selling from €3.70/kg to €3.75/kg, while U grades are selling to €3.80/kg, with specialised producers with supply arrangements faring best.
Bulls less than 16 months and selling on the grid are being offered a base of €3.70/kg, although some plants have started to quote €3.65/kg.
NI trade holding
Northern throughput continues to rise slowly, with last week’s prime cattle kill of steers, heifers and young bulls exceeding 7,000 head, the largest of the year to date.
Throughput has increased much slower than the south, having increased by about 1,000 head in the last month.
Price is holding steady, with the U-3 base quote for steers and heifers remaining at £3.30/kg to £3.34/kg. With exchange rates averaging 90p to the euro in recent days, this equates to €3.85/kg to €3.90/kg including VAT. Unfavourable exchange rates have practically shut down the trade north for direct slaughter, with less than 100 cattle moving north for the last few weeks, compared with typically 500 to 700 weekly in 2015.
British prices have eased on average by 2p/kg to 4p/kg in the last week. R4l steer and heifer prices have slipped towards £3.60/kg average, the equivalent of €4.19/kg.
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