Foyle Meats, Donegal, has moved again this week to increase beef quotes by 10c/kg across the board.

This brings its base price quotes to €4.80/kg for bullocks killing out between 300kg and 400kg. Its base quote for heifers has moved up to €4.85/kg for those killing out between 300kg and 400kg.

This has forced others to follow suit and while other factories haven’t hit the heights of Donegal, they have also moved in tandem, with general quotes of €4.60/kg to €4.65/kg base price for bullocks and €4.65/kg to €4.75/kg being paid for heifers.

Angus prices

Flat prices for Aberdeen Angus cattle have also improved, with €5.10/kg now being paid for mixes of O and P grade cattle.

R grade Aberdeen Angus, while in lesser supply, are commanding as high as €5.25/kg in some factories.

Anybody with numbers of Aberdeen Angus or Hereford cattle should be looking at selling flat at the moment, as deals are a lot better for these plainer cattle off-grid.

Factories are expected to ramp up throughput this week in advance of a three-day week kill next week in some locations.

Bull quotes

Bulls continue to be sought after, with a top of €4.75/kg to €4.85/kg being quoted for under-24-month U grading bulls.

R grades are being bought at €4.65/kg to €4.75/kg. Under-16-month bulls are working off €4.65/kg in some locations.

Cow quotes

Good-quality R and U grading cows are now hitting as high as €4.50/kg in factories, with some specialised operators very active for cows this week.

This demand is being fuelled by a big appetite for cow beef in the food service trade and a contracting kill of cows across the water leaving holes in supply chains that Irish processors have been quick to fill.

R grading cows are generally moving from €4.30/kg to €4.40/kg, with O grading cows back at €4.20/kg.

Mixed loads of O and P grading cows are also in demand, with as high as €4/kg to €4.10/kg being paid in some locations. Poorer-quality dairy cows lacking flesh are back at €3.80/kg to €3.90/kg.

Across the water, the English beef trade continues to improve. Quotes have improved by 2p/kg last week to bring average steer prices to €5.17/kg, while average heifer prices have moved to €5.19/kg. This is running about 30c/kg ahead of where Irish prices are at.

The UK is also trying to deal with a shortage of cow beef in the face of a huge increase in volumes of beef being bought for the food service trade. Last week's cow slaughter in the UK fell again, fuelling a further increase in quotes.

Further afield, the Brazilian price touched the equivalent of €4.00/kg in on Monday. The increase was currency-driven, but it is still an amazing price for Brazilian beef.