After a month of sporadic protests and continued heated tensions between farmers and processors, there would appear to be some strengthening in the beef markets, with prices having moved upwards in the past week.

Base quotes for steers are between €3.80/kg and €3.85/kg. Base prices for heifers are €3.85/kg and €3.90/kg, with reports of €4.05/kg being available in the northwest.

Prices for bulls are in the region of €3.80/kg to €3.85/kg, while R-grade cows are €3.35/kg to €3.45/kg.

Although there has been some movement on price, the IFA has said that there needs to be a greater lift in price from the factories in the coming days.

The association protested outside the doors of the Consumer and Competition Protection Commission (CCPC) regarding the warning it sent last week to the IFA advising against further protests.

“The tens of thousands of farmers who took part in the IFA protests have made it abundantly clear that they are not prepared to accept loss-making cattle prices from the factories when market returns are on the increase,” said IFA president Eddie Downey.

The association’s livestock chairman, Henry Burns, encouraged farmers to sell hard and hold out where possible, with factories looking for cattle in the run-up to the busy Christmas market.

Meat Industry Ireland (MII) said farmers’ returns have increased between €60 and €70/head in recent weeks and these improvements are evidence that processors are “passing back these higher returns to farmers”.

However, MII cautioned against prices rising much further.

“It is now the case that Irish cattle prices are equivalent to 101% of the EU average, which is a very strong performance given that, unlike any other member state, we export 90% of our beef and must therefore remain competitive in all markets,” said an MII spokesperson.