Winter finishers had hoped that last week’s strengthening in the trade would gain momentum and push on again this week. Unfortunately, this has not materialised as yet, with the trade at the start of week steady, with steers trading on a base of €4.00/kg to €4.05/kg and heifers on a base of €4.10/kg to €4.15/kg.

There are still strong signs of factories being keen to tie into deals, particularly for numbers coming on stream over the coming weeks. However, supplies appear to be finely balanced with demand at the start of the week, with numbers tightening as you progress up the country. Farmers will be hoping that today’s announcement on the opening of the Chinese market delivers tangible benefits and can help to bring returns from winter finishers into the green.

Stronger negotiating position

Flat-priced deals for O grading Friesian cattle range, in general, from €3.80/kg to €3.90/kg for small numbers, while sellers with upwards of 50 cattle on hand are in a much stronger negotiating position, pushing prices towards the €4.00/kg mark.

The young bull trade is firm, with R grades split on a price range of €4.05/kg to €4.10/kg, with U grades selling from €4.10/kg to €4.15/kg. Friesian bulls remain a good trade in comparison, with prices for O grading bulls ranging anywhere from €3.80/kg to €3.95/kg. Bulls less than 16 months and trading on the grid are selling from €4.00/kg to €4.05/kg.

Cows

Cow prices can be summarised as €3.35/kg to €3.40/kg for P grades, €3.50/kg to €3.55/kg for O grades, €3.60/kg to €3.65/kg for R grades and a top of €3.70/kg to €3.80/kg for heavy U grading cows. Regular sellers with greater negotiating power continue to command a 10c/kg to 15c/kg premium over sellers handling small numbers.

Northern trade

The northern trade is solid, with the trade edging upwards. U-3 steer and heifer base quotes remain at £3.58/kg to £3.60/kg. At Monday evening's weaker exchange rate of 86.4p to the euro, this equates to €4.14/kg to €4.17/kg or €4.36/kg to €4.39/kg including VAT at 5.4%. Regular sellers continue to secure returns into the mid- to high-£3.60s.

10,000 extra cattle processed

Analysis of the kill for the year to date shows 10,882 extra cattle processed. The heifer kill is contributing most, with 4,556 extra heifers drafted off farms. There were 4,090 extra young bulls processed, but this was largely cancelled out by 3,075 fewer steers. The cow kill and number of calves processed is running about 2,000 head above last year’s level, as detailed in Table 1.

Read more

Ireland wins European beef exporters’ race to China

Access to China - what does it mean for Irish beef?