Beef quotes are moving up another notch this week, with most factories improving quotes on last week’s offerings.

Bullocks are now moving at €3.85/kg across the board, with a few €3.90/kg quotes starting to appear.

Foyle Meats in Donegal is quoting €3.90/kg for bullocks plus a 10c/kg bonus for carcases killing out between 300kg and 380kg.

Heifers

Heifers are moving at €3.90/kg across the board, with some factories having to move to €3.95/kg to secure supplies.

Foyle is quoting €3.95/kg for heifers with a 10c bonus for 300-380kg carcases.

That means a quality-assured R-grading heifer killing out at 300kg carcase weight is coming into €4.25/kg paid price.

Angus and Hereford

Angus and Hereford cattle are also in demand to fill retail orders, with bonuses of up to 15c/kg available on top of other in-spec bonuses.

Flat deals are also being paid by some smaller operators for dairy-cross stock. Between €4.10/kg and €4.20/kg is being paid for O grading heifers with no deductions on the grid.

Farmers are advised to dig in and sell hard. With factories anxious for cattle, farmers with finished cattle should use this opportunity to extract more in terms of price. Market conditions would point to very positive sentiment, with further price rises expected in the near future.

Bull demand

Bull demand has also lifted, with €3.90-€3.95/kg being paid for R grading bulls while U grading bulls are moving at €4.00/kg.

Factories also appear hungrier for dairy-cross bulls in the last week or so, with quotes of €3.80 and more for O/R grading dairy bulls. Under-16-month bulls are being quoted at €3.85-€3.90kg base.

Cows

P grading cows are being quoted at €3.15/kg in some factories, with more going if there are numbers of well-fleshed cows involved.

Good-quality O grading cows are on €3.25-€3.35/kg. R grades are being quoted between €3.50/kg and €3.65/kg for good-quality well-fleshed suckler-bred cows.

Britain

British beef quotes continue their upward trajectory, with all cattle seeing a lift last week.

Tight supplies and record retail demand has meant British processors have had to increase quotes week on week for the last four to six weeks, with beef quotes currently running 50c/kg ahead of this time last year.

The British kill is down 2% for the first two months of the year.

The Bord Bia price tracker for steers, heifers and young bulls shows that the prime export benchmark price is at €3.89/kg excluding VAT, 11c/kg ahead of the Irish composite price of €3.78 excluding VAT.