Last week’s MartBids analysis was a tough read and an even tougher write. A sea of red arrows engulfed the page, with few categories of stock safe from price cuts, and big ones at that.

This week, while heavy cattle are still back again in price, at least we are seeing more positive news on the weanlings, which appear to have returned to a similar price to two weeks ago.

Last week, I noted that numbers had jumped by 15% or thereabouts. This week, numbers have retracted considerably by circa 34%.

Even this tightening in numbers has done little to stall the reduction in price, with nearly all classes of heifers falling by 1c to 8c/kg, save for the top third of heifers weighing 350kg to 400kg.

While it’s not dramatic, it is still worrying with numbers being so tight that prices are still slipping.

Bullocks

Bullocks are a more variable trade. Light store bullocks saw slight increases in price in many cases, while more forward and finished types are back by 6c/kg to 23c/kg, with no real variance in price cuts regarding quality.

A number of weeks ago, we had tight cattle supplies, yet factories were still saying that they had no market outlet for beef.

One of the primary reasons for this is our market share in the UK and our dwindling dominance of it.

Ireland continues to be the main exporter of beef to the UK, providing 44,000 tonnes in quarter one (Q1), though this was 14.3% lower year on year (from 51,000t). Among EU member states, imports from Poland declined to 5,000t (-19.3% year on year).

On the flip side, volumes from Brazil rose to 8,000t, an increase of 58.7% on the year.

Imports from Australia expanded sharply from 2,000t to 4,000t in Q1 compared with 2025, a rise of 153%.

New Zealand increased exports to the UK by a monumental 586% from 1,000t to 8,000t.

In essence, the three southern hemisphere states are shouldering in on the Irish beef’s space.

At the Great Taste Awards this week, ABP won 41 stars across 27 different products in both its beef and lamb ranges.

We always talk about the great product that we produce here in Ireland and recognition like this should hopefully help cement our place on shelfs outside of Ireland.

Weanlings

Weanlings took a much-needed lift this week after taking a crash last week, though bulls haven’t recovered fully.

Several special sales brought out the quality and where there’s quality, there’s exporters.

Numbers were slightly up in the bull weanling ring, with average prices up 8c to 17c/kg for bulls over 300kg.

Surprisingly, the bottom third of bulls rose the most this week, with 20c to 27c/kg of a rise seen in these types.

Heifer numbers are still extremely low and price continues to see-saw according to the quality of heifers on offer from week to week. The recent rainfall should see keener buyer demand. Average cow price rose by 5c/kg this week to €2.85/kg, with the top and bottom third trading at €3.49/kg and €2.16/kg respectively.