The beef kill continues to defy all expectations, with last week’s throughput increasing by 748 head to reach 39,263 head. The higher kill is stemming from two avenues – factories working around the clock to maximise throughput and offering higher prices to entice cattle forward.

Prices for steers and heifers have increased by an average of 2c/kg to 5c/kg, with demand strongest in particular for in-spec heifers and steers.

A high percentage of cattle have traded on a base of €3.85/kg for steers and €3.95/kg for heifers, with those handling lower numbers 5c/kg back.

Sellers possessing greater negotiating power have moved another 5c/kg above this, with increasing numbers of heifers in particular now moving on a base of €4.00/kg.

Appetite in the market

Factory agents are particularly interested in tying into deals involving large numbers and are quick to move stock once a deal has been struck.

This shows the appetite in the market in the last week. Some sellers trading at the top of the market have also secured allowances on transport, with factories willing to compete well outside of their normal catchment areas.

Flat-priced deals for Angus and Hereford heifers range from €3.80/kg to €3.90kg, with top prices rising 5c/kg higher.

Bulls and cows

As well as utilising their own feedlot cattle, factories are also sourcing higher numbers of bulls from specialist finishers, reflected in last week’s throughput rising 452 head to 4,452.

Prices have also hardened for bulls, with R grading bulls trading on average from €3.85/kg to €3.90/kg, while U grading bulls are selling in general from €3.95/kg to €4.00/kg. This excludes bonuses paid to large scale finishers.

Flat-priced deals of €4.00/kg have been reported at the top of the market for mixed lots of mainly U grading bulls and small numbers of R grades.

Friesian bulls are trading from €3.70/kg to €3.80/kg, with numbers involved having a big effect on price and allowing producers with very high numbers to push for higher.

The cow trade is also benefiting from more life in the trade. Last week’s cow kill increased 632 head to 8,934 and went a long way in compensating for steer throughput falling 722 head to 14,960.

P=3 grading cows are trading from €3.10/kg to €3.25/kg, with O grades from €3.25/kg to €3.40/kg and even higher in cases. R grades are selling from €3.45/kg to €3.55/kg, with heavy cows selling to €3.60/kg in cow specialist plants.

Likewise, top-quality U grades are selling from €3.55/kg all the way to €3.70/kg.

Last week's kill

With last week’s kill 4,581 head higher than the corresponding week in 2016, the difference in annual throughput has increased to 86,152 head (1.54m total kill).

Reports show there is more life entering the northern trade. Base U-3 quotes remain at a range of £3.54/kg to £3.56/kg, which is the equivalent of €3.99/kg to €4.02/kg (€4.21/kg to €4.24/kg incl VAT at 5.4%), but sellers with greater negotiating power are extracting another 2p/kg from the market, with top prices rising 6p/kg to 8p/kg above base quotes.

Fleshed O grading cows are selling from £2.60/kg to £2.80/kg (€3.09/kg to €3.33/kg incl VAT), with heavy R and U grades rising to £3.00/kg (€3.57/kg).

The AHDB reports average British R4L prices rising by 1.5p/kg to 2.5p/kg, leaving R4L steers around £3.78/kg (€4.50/kg incl VAT) and R4L heifers around £3.75/kg (€4.46/kg incl VAT).

The latest prime cattle kill for the week ending 11 November increased 1,000 head to 31,817, while the cow kill eased from 12,274 to 12,038. Cow prices eased by 1p/kg, with O4L cows averaging £2.59/kg (€3.08/kg incl VAT).

Northern Ireland

The cattle trade is holding steady on a base of 354p/kg, but there are deals to be made for farmers with in-spec cattle.

With the cattle kill reaching peak supply, meat plants are working at capacity to process cattle. Some plants remain on a six-day kill week to meet demand for the Christmas trade and will continue to do so for at least another week.

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