The price of beef has been breaking all sorts of records over the last 18 months.

At the end of January 2025, the price paid for U3 steers averaged 537.9p/kg and from then to mid-March prices went up 100p/kg. In some weeks, quotes surged by 20p/kg – the extent of the weekly price increase was something we have never seen before in NI.

Prices eventually peaked at a new record high of 692.3p/kg for U3 steers in the middle of April.

What followed was a fairly steady decline in the trade, although prices paid for U3 grades were still in and around 650p/kg by the end of 2025.

Reductions

But after the record price increases seen in early 2025, we have just gone through a period of significant price reductions.

In mid-April 2026, U3 grading steers averaged 630.9p/kg – just six weeks later, that average fell back to around the 590p/kg mark, which on a 400kg steer equates to £160 per head. When compared to this time last year, prices for heavy cattle are back by over £300 per head.

The latest indications are that the trade could be close to bottoming out and with cattle numbers across the UK likely to be fairly tight this summer, there is even the potential that the market could rebound to some extent.

However, while that might be positive for those selling store cattle later this year, the best-case scenario for everyone involved in the beef industry is that the market for finished cattle remains fairly steady over the next 12 months.

After the losses seen in the spring, it is simply not sustainable that we might see high prices again paid for stores this autumn, only for the beef trade to come under renewed downward pressure in the first half of 2027.

Unfortunately, no-one can predict the market that far ahead, but either way, there will be more caution around the rings this autumn than was seen in 2025.