There is no big change in the beef trade over the last week. Factories remain keen on maximising throughput, but there is an unwillingness to let prices creep upwards.

Producers with greater negotiating power and trading at the top of the market continue to secure a base of €3.95/kg for steers and €4.05/kg for heifers, but for other sellers, securing a higher return is proving challenging.

This leaves a significant percentage of steers and heifers trading on a base of €3.90/kg and €4.00/kg respectively.

Last week’s kill increased 824 head to 35,838, with significant changes across many categories of stock.

The steer kill increased 718 head to 11,871, with rising numbers of Friesian steers coming fit for slaughter underpinning this increase.

Flat-priced deals for these are in the minority, with prices reported ranging in general from €3.70/kg to €3.75/kg, with top prices rising to €3.80/kg for steers still capable of ticking all the boxes for the quality payment scheme.

The young bull kill reduced by 699 head to 5,038, while the only other category to record lower numbers was heifers, which fell marginally by 23 head to 9,977.

There were 260 more cows (7,750) processed, while a significant increase underpinning a rise in total weekly throughput is 534 more calves processed.

This brings the number of calves processed last week to 757 head, a rise of 154 head on the corresponding week in 2017.

There is also little change in the young bull and cow trade. Young bulls continue to sell on average for €3.90/kg for R grades and €4.00/kg for U grades, with some specialist finishers pushing prices for lots involving mainly U grades and a small proportion of R grades to a flat price of €4.00/kg.

Bulls less than 16 months and trading on the grid are moving at a base of €3.90/kg in general, with small numbers 2c/kg to 5c/kg higher.

The general run of prices for cows is €3.25/kg to €3.35/kg for P+3 grades, €3.35/kg to €3.45/kg for fleshed O grades and €3.50/kg to €3.60/kg for R grades.

Cow-specialist plants continue to pay a premium for large sale groups, with some particularly active for young heavy fleshed U grading cows and willing to pay up to €3.70/kg.

Northern trade

A strong kill continues to satisfy demand, with last week’s throughput recorded at 6,996 cattle and 2,147 cows.

As such, there is no pressure on factories to lift prices paid, with base quotes remaining unchanged at a range of £3.48/kg to £3.54/kg.

This equates to €3.94/kg to €4.01/kg at 88.3p to the euro or €4.15/kg to €4.22/kg including VAT at 5.4%.

Specialist finishers continue to command higher prices, with last week’s reported prices for U-3 steers and heifers averaging in excess of £3.60/kg (€4.30/kg incl VAT).

The price report shows O3 grading cows averaging £2.82/kg (€3.36/kg incl VAT), while R3 grading bulls average around £3.40/kg (€4.05/kg incl VAT).

British beef prices are steady, after pressure in recent weeks, with last week’s R4L steers and heifers average price, as reported by the AHDB, at £3.68/kg (€4.39/kg incl VAT).

The ADHB points to sluggish demand adding to seasonal price pressure.

Prices remain strongest in Scotland, with a price differential to other areas of about 8p/kg.

R3 grading bulls averaged £3.50/kg (€4.18/kg) last week, while O grading cows are trading from £2.73/kg (€3.26/kg) for O-3 grades to £2.86/kg (€3.38/kg) for O+ grading cows.

Read more

Strong cattle kill continuing in February