Last week’s beef kill reduced by 389 head, but still remains high at 39,955 and falls just shy of the kill exceeding 40,000 head for a fourth week.

The comparable weekly kill in 2017 was the highest for the year at 40,529 head. However, the big difference is the trading environment, with prices rising in 2017 despite the higher kill. This is in stark contrast with the trade at present.

Steers and heifers remain on a base of €3.75/kg and €3.85/kg respectively. The volume of cattle trading at the higher end of the market and achieving a 5c/kg higher base has declined, with fewer reports in the last week.

Factories continue to focus on steers and heifers under 30 months of age, with some plants penalising overage and non-quality assured (QA) cattle by 10c/kg to 15c/kg.

The trade for cows appears to have steadied after the recent collapse in price, but bulls on the other hand are meeting a difficult trade.

Quotes for R grading young bulls range from €3.70/kg to €3.75/kg, with U grading bulls selling on average from €3.80/kg to €3.85/kg, while O grading bulls are trading from €3.50/kg to €3.65/kg.

There are some deals above these prices, but they are confined to specialist finishers.

Factories have also, in many cases, become more discerning on carcase weight and fat cover. Some plants are talking about penalising on what they deem to be heavy carcases exceeding 420kg to 440kg.

Others are discounting bulls delivering a fat cover of 2=, while the base price for bulls less than 16 months and trading on the grid has been reduced in cases from €3.75/kg to €3.70/kg.

There is also a longer lead-in time from booking to slaughter for bulls, with reported time lines of one to three weeks, depending on the plant in question and the producer-processor relationship.

This is reflected in the bull kill rising at a slower rate than in 2017. The number of bulls processed last week was recorded at 4,828, which is 856 head lower than the corresponding week in 2017.

The collapse in cow prices seems to have at least slowed. P+3 grading cows are trading on average from €2.65/kg to €2.80/kg, with O grading cows anywhere from €2.80/kg to €2.90/kg.

R grades have dipped under the €3.00/kg mark in some plants, with prices ranging from €2.90/kg to €3.00/kg, while some deals for heavy carcase cows have been reported rising to €3.10/kg to €3.15/kg.

U grading cow have been pulled into check over the last two weeks, with the exception of a few cow-specialist plants, with average prices ranging from €3.20/kg to €3.35/kg.

Northern trade

The northern trade also remains under downward price pressure, with base U-3 steer and heifer quotes dropping another 2p/kg to 4p/kg to a price range of £3.40/kg to £3.46/kg.

This is the equivalent to €3.82/kg to €3.88/kg at Wednesday afternoon’s exchange rate of 89p to the euro and €4.03/kg to €4.10/kg, including VAT at 5.4%.

O grading cows have also slipped, according to the LMC, by anywhere from 5p/kg to 10p/kg, with this week’s quotes from £2.18/kg to £2.40/kg.

The latest AHDB report also shows British prices reducing, with the average steer 2.4p/kg lower, while heifers have slipped 1.6p/kg.

R4L steers average £3.72/kg (€4.41/kg incl VAT), with the average R4L heifer price recorded at £3.70/kg (€4.38/kg incl VAT). R3 bulls are steady at £3.50/kg (€4.15/kg), with cows falling 2.5p/kg and ranging from £2.27/kg to £2.43/kg (€2.69/kg to €2.88/kg incl VAT) for O grades.