Having had week-on-week price falls since May, indications at the beginning of this week are that beef quotes are no worse than last week, which is small consolation to farmers.

While €4.60/kg is presented as the official factory quote in many cases, €4.65/kg seems to have been fairly freely available on Monday.

On heifers, most are being sold at €4.70/kg, even if the negation begins at €4.65/kg.

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Supplies

With factories having a few days supply ahead of themselves and a more positive weather forecast for the middle of the week, there will be a bit less pressure on farmers to get cattle off the fields - for the moment at least.

There is no great change in the cow trade and while factories are getting as many as they want without chasing, prices at the start of the week remain in line with last week.

Good O grading cows are trading in the range of €3.90/kg to €4.00/kg, while plain P+3+ cows are making around €3.70/kg to €3.80/kg.

High-quality suckler-bred cows making R grades are few in number, but are getting €4.00/kg to €4.10/kg, while the exceptional U grading cows are worth €4.20kg to €4.30/kg.

Young bull throughput is low at this time of year, but where they are available, under-16-month young bulls are at €4.65/kg to €4.75/kg.

Market situation

Many factories are still operating on a reduced timetable and therefore are managing to keep a few days ahead with cattle supply.

With having to wait a few days to get cattle killed and uncertain weather, farmers are in a weaker selling position than they would like to be and this is especially the case in the western half of the country, where land is heavier.

There are also some indications that the beef market has stabilised, with a bit more demand for manufacturing beef.

On the continent, after several weeks of falling farmgate prices, there were also indications of a small upturn, with Polish and German cattle prices showing a small increase.

Also, Irish R3 steer prices have fallen faster than the EU average R3 young bull prices over recent months and for the first time since January, the Irish R3 steer at €4.72/kg dipped below the EU average R3 young bull price of €4.74/kg for week ending 5 August (all prices excluding VAT).