Beef quotes continue to move in the right direction, with some factories having to move quotes up again this week to secure supplies.

Some of the smaller operators have had to increase heifer quotes to €5.15/kg and €5.20/kg to get sufficient numbers.

A price of €5.20/kg is still at the top of the market for the regular trader, but bigger operators have been able to squeeze more out of the market, with several loads of heifers being sold this week in excess of €5.20/kg base price.

Bullocks are moving at €5.05/kg to €5.10/kg in the main. Foyle Meats, Donegal, continues to pay a bonus of 10c/kg on top of the base price for 300kg to 400kg carcases.

Factories are expected to start killing very soon for the Chinese market.

Bonuses haven’t been clarified, but are expected to be a minimum of 10c/kg for suitable cattle.

Flat deals

Flat deals of as high as €5.60/kg are on the table this week for Aberdeen Angus heifers.

Most agents are now paying 20c to 30c/kg bonus on Aberdeen Angus heifers, with 10c to 15c/kg being paid for Hereford heifers.

Bonus

I have heard of a number of farmers getting the Angus bonus on Hereford heifers just to secure the load this week.

A lot of farmers are sitting down with their processors in the coming weeks to look at the 2023 picture in terms of supplies and prices.

Have your figures done for these encounters and don’t sell yourself short.

Prime cattle supplies remain very tight and factories are willing to pull out all the stops to get cattle.

Young bulls

The top price in the young bull market is €5.30/kg for U grading bulls, with €5.10/kg on the table for R grading bulls.

O and P grading bulls are being bought at €4.80/kg to €4.90/kg.

Under-16-month bulls are being bought at €5.00/kg to €5.10/kg.

A number of northern buyers are putting some life in the mart trade, with factory buyers paying in excess of what cattle are worth to kill to an ordinary trader on a number of occasions during the week.

The same is happening in a lot of marts this week, with over €3/kg being paid for factory-fit Aberdeen Angus heifers in a number of marts.

Exceptional demand

Good cows are in exceptional demand. P+3 are working off €4.20/kg to €4.30/kg, with O grading cows coming in at €4.40/kg to €4.50/kg.

R grading cows are generally being quoted at €4.60/kg to €4.70/kg, with U grading cows now moving to €4.80/kg to €4.90/kg.

Lots of deals are on the table to get good cows, with R grading cows being bought at U grading prices in some instances.

Flesh is important, with factory agents able to give a little more where cows are well covered.

Last week’s four-day kill came in at just over 29,000 head, with the bull kill being one of the most notable movers.

There was 3,579 bulls killed last week, the highest bull kill since 14 February 2022 and over 500 bulls ahead of the same week in 2022.

January is a big month for throughput of bulls and the appetite is good at the moment for well-fleshed bulls.

NI comment

Beef prices continue to rise in Northern Ireland on the back of limited supplies.

Base quotes have edged up to 446p/kg (€5.28/kg inc VAT) for U-3 animals, but this is 20p/kg below the price deals being made.

Steers and heifers are generally making 465p/kg (€5.50/kg), although regular finishers with bigger numbers are on 470p/kg (€5.57/kg).

Cows are making in the region of 400p/kg (€4.73/kg) for good-quality suckler types.