With peak Christmas production of roasting cuts under way, and in fact drawing to a close shortly as stocks will be in place, the focus is on the rest of the carcase. Roast joints are trading around €9.20 to €9.30/kg – a very acceptable level. Rumps are trading OK, but after that there are difficulties. Steak and ribs are under pressure, with numbers around €11/kg mentioned for strip loins. Even lighter in-spec loins are struggling to find markets.

Part of the problem here is that loins from Brazilian cattle with a farmgate price of €2.20/kg are making their way into the EU and even the UK market at under €8 – an example of what could happen regularly if there was a free trade agreement with South America.

Forequarter is traditionally stockpiled this time of year and the open market value is weak at present, with anything over €3.50/kg difficult to achieve for any volume and prices as low as €3.20/kg offered. Lambs are the relative bright spot at present, with scarcity of numbers driving the trade.