While drought conditions in the south causing concern with some finishers about extra numbers of cattle being slaughtered due to grass shortages, this doesn’t seem to be materialising with the cow trade stable again this week.

In-spec steers and heifers continue to be top of the pile in terms of price, with €3.60/kg the going rate. Some agents are still able to pay a little more for suitable heifers and €3.65/kg has been paid over the last week for heifers.

Some factories are still trying to keep the pressure on by quoting €3.55/kg but paying €3.60/kg.

Bulls are still trading at €3.50/kg for R grading bulls and €3.60/kg for U grading bulls. Young bulls continue to trade at €3.55/kg to €3.60/kg on the grid.

Cows have steadied also, with a large gap opening up on prices depending on who you are and what you have.

Good-quality heavy cows are in demand and I have heard of quotes as high as €3.40/kg for a load of heavy cows this week.

The general run of quotes is around €3.10/kg to €3.15/kg for good R+ cows, with €3.20/kg to €3.30/kg being paid for U grading cows. O+3 cows are back at €2.90/kg, while P grading cows are trading around €2.75/kg to €2.80/kg.

Based on prices being paid in marts, there is obviously more being paid to certain customers based on numbers and loyalty bonuses. Looking at the mart trade and the NI buyers around the rings, this is the place for them.

If the weekly kill figures were going up and prices were coming back, you might say that the drought was having an effect, but the increase in kill hasn’t had any effect on price, meaning its demand-driven, with most factories more than happy to cater for animals coming their way.

What’s driving this demand? Speaking with industry sources, European retail sales are back with a bang, with high demand for retail promotions across all the major European retailers.

The food service industry is also gearing up to replenish supplies ahead of reopening. This should add a further boost to the trade in the coming weeks.

The numbers

Last week’s kill jumped to 36,208, the highest kill since early March – 3,883 head ahead of the previous week’s kill and 1,730 head ahead of the same week last year.

The biggest lift was seen in steers, with an extra 2,075 steers slaughtered last week compared with the previous week.

Increases occurred across all categories, with an extra 307 young bulls, 255 bulls, 490 cows and 754 heifers slaughtered. Some factory agents are still talking about an overhang in the market based on the fact that we are 53,224 head behind last year’s kill.

Bord Bia estimated that we would be down 55,000 to 65,000 head of cattle in 2020 based on strong calf and weanling exports in 2017/2018.

While there may have been some backlog a few weeks ago, this has been worked through and finished cattle seem to be in short supply at the moment. Based on this reduction, we were always going to see are reduced kill in 2020, regardless of COVID-19 effects.

NI

Cattle continue to move north in high numbers, with 815 exported to NI for direct slaughter last week. NI factories are still very anxious for supplies, with prices strengthening again this week to 415p/kg for in-spec stock.