There are signs of some plants being keener for steers and heifers, helped by sales in a number of export markets reported as being better than anticipated.

However, there are no signs of any movement on price, with steers trading on a base of €3.75/kg and heifers on a base of €3.85/kg.

Factories have a strong fallback of bulls and cows to underpin supplies and this is removing any real pressure to increase activity in the market.

This is reflected in last week’s beef kill getting back closer to normal processing and recording throughput at 35,810 head.

This is 7,988 head higher than the previous week’s shorter processing week and 2,825 head higher than the corresponding week in 2018.

Bull throughput increased 1,148 head to 6,223, which is also the highest level of weekly throughput for over a year.

There is still a large backlog of bulls in the market, with finishers facing ongoing challenges in getting bulls accepted for slaughter.

The greatest difficulty is being faced by farmers with no previous supply arrangements, but even where these are in place, there are still problems with bulls.

Prices for R and U grading bulls remain at an average of €3.70/kg to €3.75/kg and €3.80/kg to €3.85/kg respectively.

O grading bulls are quoted from €3.45/kg to €3.55/kg, depending on the conformation score.

Reports indicate there is a higher supply of Friesian and dairy-cross bulls in the supply chain, some of which are struggling to meet desired fat covers.

Producers in doubt are advised to investigate potential cuts. Bulls recording a fat score of 2= are facing an average cut of 10c/kg, those falling below this are facing much more severe cuts.

There are also cuts being imposed on what factories deem overweight carcases.

This is kicking in from a carcase weight of 420kg to 450kg, depending on the plant, while a number of plants are removing bulls less than 16 months and killing over 400kg carcase weight from payment on the grid.

The cow trade is unchanged, with P+3 grades continuing to trade from €2.60/kg to €2.70/kg, while O grading cows are trading from €2.80/kg to €2.85/kg. Sellers handling large numbers are securing an extra 5c/kg to 10c/kg in cases.

There appears to be stronger demand for better-grading cows, with R grades starting at €3.00/kg and rising to €3.10/kg to €3.15/kg, while U grades are trading from €3.20/kg to a top of €3.40/kg.

The mart trade remains a good outlet for sellers with small numbers of top-quality cows.

Northern trade

There is stronger signs of more life in the northern trade, with factories starting to make enquiries with feeders on future supply patterns.

Base U-3 base quotes range from £3.42/kg to £3.44/kg. It is interesting to note that sterling increased in value after Tuesday night’s vote by 1p to the euro and stood at 88.6p to the euro on Wednesday afternoon.

This leaves base prices at €3.86/kg to €3.88/kg or €4.07/kg to €4.09/kg including VAT at 5.4%. A high percentage of cattle are said to be coming on stream from specialist finishers, with prices rising to £3.50/kg (€4.16/kg incl VAT).

British prices continue to ease, with the exception of Scotland, which appears to be steadying and turning a corner.

The AHDB’s latest price report shows average steers and heifer prices falling 1.3p/kg and 2.4p/kg respectively, with R4L steers averaging £3.64/kg (€4.33/kg incl VAT), 2p/kg above heifers.

Read more

Northern view: beef prices harden with deals on offer