Irish beef prices are now back €1.18/kg on the R3 steer grade (excluding VAT) compared with where they were at the peak of the market in April last year and there is no sign that the bottom of the market has been reached.
However, in Australia, Brazil and the United States - the three largest beef exporting countries in the world - the price trend for cattle has been in the opposite direction, with all of them paying more for cattle at the farm gate than they were a year ago.
However, even though Irish prices have been falling and their prices rising, there is still a large gap in what is being paid for cattle in Brazil and Australia compared with Ireland.
The US has been on an upward price curve throughout the past year and its equivalent of an R3 steer is now valued at €7.48/kg, almost €1/kg more than the €6.55/kg (ex-VAT) that was reported for R3 steers in Ireland on 23 May.
If we go back to the same week last year, the price reported for the same grade in Ireland was €7.54/kg, whereas in the US it was €6.64/kg, a complete reversal of positions.
The Australian beef price is also higher in May this year than last year. In May 2026, its equivalent of an R3 steer was reported at €4.57/kg, which is significantly higher than the €3.82/kg reported for the same week last year.
It is the same trend in Brazil. In May 2025, the price paid for an animal similar to the Irish R3 steer was the equivalent of €3.24/kg - this year, that has increased to the equivalent of €3.92/kg. Of course, while the trend has been upwards in Australia and Brazil, their prices remain a long way behind the Irish price, despite the recent falls.
Trade levels markets
Given the relatively high cattle price in Ireland and across Europe throughout 2025, it is of little surprise that imports were attracted from cheaper beef-producing regions of the world.
The EU market has been relatively protected from the outside by import tariffs on beef, but these will reduce as trade deals with Mercosur countries and Australia come into effect.
The impact of trade deals is even more dramatic in the UK, where Australia and New Zealand have large quotas with a zero-rate tariff.
It is therefore a basic rule of the market that when cheaper product can be imported, domestic prices will reduce and the imported product will increase in value as demand increases.
Measures to counteract this
Competition from cheaper imports is the bane of every manufacturer in any market. Irish farmers will correctly point to the fact that they produce beef of the highest quality and they are among the most regulated in the world.
However, the market tends not to reflect as high a financial value for this as we would like, even though Irish cattle prices remain well ahead of what is paid in the big exporting countries to the UK.
Beef is already an expensive product and any attempts to maintain or increase value are fraught with difficulty and with no guarantee of success.
There is a further complication with cattle values in that any over-supply or shortage of supply takes a long time for the market to correct.
Unlike the short cycles in pigs and poultry or dairy, where production can be adjusted by feeding, the beef production cycle takes at least two years and in many cases three.
The reality for Irish farmers is that the beef markets we have had to ourselves since joining the EU are now more contested and greater price volatility is likely to be the new normal.
UK imports of Irish beef down in Q1