It’s been another steady week in the beef trade, with quotes relatively unchanged on last week’s prices.

Bullocks remain on €4.15/kg, with the odd exception of €4.20/kg going to bigger suppliers.

Heifers are on a similar vein, with €4.20/kg the standard quote and €4.25/kg going to those with the power to hammer out a better deal.

Factories are in full Christmas mode now, with the major focus on prime cattle to fill UK retail orders in advance of Christmas. This demand, coupled with a tightening in numbers, will underpin prime cattle prices in the run-up to Christmas.

Bulls

Young bulls haven’t changed, with €4.15/kg to €4.20/kg base price being quoted in most factories.

Under-24-month bulls are generally working off €4.15/kg for R grading bulls and €4.25/kg for U grading bulls. €4.30/kg has been squeezed out of one or two factories by larger suppliers this week.

Cows

The cow trade has also stayed steady over the last week. P+3 cows are working off €3.40/kg to €3.50/kg, with heavier P grading cows coming into 340kg to 350kg carcase weight managing €3.55/kg.

O grading Friesian cows are coming in at €3.50/kg, while O grading suckler cows are in better demand and able to squeeze €3.60/kg out of the market.

R grading suckler cows continue to trade off €3.80/kg to €3.85/kg, while good-quality U grading cows are still capable of getting €4.00/kg and more depending on who is selling them.

Last week’s kill came in at 37,437, back in line with where things were three weeks ago before the bank holiday weekend. Looking back at the same week in 2020, it’s actually back over 1,000 head.

British market

According to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), the British beef market had another stable week, with R4L bullocks coming in at €5.09/kg incl VAT.

There was a slight decline in some plants last week, but an improvement in the Scottish market levelled any negative effects out.

The current British kill is down 4.4% compared with 2020 levels and this, along with good retail and food service demand, has meant that the buoyant beef market has continued.

Brazil

Brazilian beef exports are up 1.5% in the year to September. Brazil has exported 1.27 million tonnes of beef for the first nine months of 2021.

China has been the main driver, but a case of BSE on a Brazilian farm meant that beef exports from Brazil to China were banned at the beginning of September.

Industry experts had predicted that Brazilian exports would only be banned for a short time.

Such was the confidence that exports would resume that they continued to send ships to China in the hope that by the time they would dock in Hong Kong, the ban would be lifted. This hasn’t happened and already some of these ships have been refused entry and redirected to other countries such as Vietnam.

China has shifted its purchases to the USA and Uruguay, with more and more beef being sourced from these two countries, especially over the last two months.

NI comment

Base quotes unchanged in NI, with 394p/kg (€4.89/kg inc VAT) for U-3 grading animals. Price deals start at 400p/kg (€4.96/kg) for prime cattle with regular finishers securing 4p to 6p/kg extra. Demand for cows has slowed as prime cattle throughput rises and quotes are back 5p/kg. Deals of 325p/kg (€4.09/kg) are still available for good suckler types.