The beef trade continues to gather pace, with a marked difference in the sentiment of agents this week.

There is a range in this week’s quotes, but the top quote for heifers is coming in at €7.45/kg base price for continental heifers. That’s up 10-15 cent/kg on the previous week. A good weather forecast and shortage of numbers is expected to push prices up again next week.

More factories have been able to buy heifers at a base price of €7.30/kg, but more is available when pressure is applied.

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Bullocks are working off a base price of €7.20-€7.30/kg in the main, with more going where numbers are involved. Breed bonuses of 25c/kg are on the table for in-spec Aberdeen Angus bullocks and heifers.

The general consensus is that quotes will continue to edge upwards in the weeks ahead.

Flat prices are also back in vogue for continental cattle, with as high as €7.80/kg reported this week for full loads of heifers. Some factories have already begun planning for the Christmas kill, with lower numbers and lighter carcases forcing them to think about supplies earlier than other years.

The tightness in supply has pointed some processors back in the direction of their own supplies.

There have been 305,000 head of cattle slaughtered out of controlled finishing units up until the end of September 2025, up 11,000 head of cattle on the same period in 2024.

The number of cattle slaughtered out of these units dropped to 27,500, in line with a huge drop in the cattle kill. Comparing August 2024 to August 2025, the proportion of cattle killed from these units as a proportion of the total amount of cattle killed went from 23.2% last year to 26.7% this year.

Cows

The cow trade is steady, with agents actively sourcing slaughter-fit cows in marts. R grading cows are generally trading at €7.00/kg to €7.10/kg, while O grading cows are coming in around €6.80/kg to €6.90/kg, depending on weight and flesh cover.

P+3 grading cows are back to €6.60/kg in some locations, but €6.80/kg is also available.

Bulls

Up to €7.60/kg is available at the top end for U grading bulls where numbers are involved, working back to €7.20/kg to €7.30/kg for O grades. Under-16-month-old bulls are working off a base price of €7.10/kg, with a little more going to those with numbers.

Last week’s kill came in at 27,379, a big drop of almost 3,000 on the previous week with a number of southern factories killing a smaller number of cattle last week. The heifer kill at 7,356 head is one of the lowest kills of heifers so far in 2025.

The bullock kill also reduced by over 500 head last week to come in at just over 13,000 head. The cow kill also remains very low for the time of year at 5,311 head and currently running almost 3,500 behind the 2024 kill for the same week.

The total kill is back 13,541 head on the same week in 2024. The year-to-date kil is currently back 104,704 head on the same period in 2024.

Moving further a field declining EU beef production is opening markets for imported beef with the latest data from the European Commission pointing to a more than doubling of beef imports under the 481 quota with a large proportion of this increased volume coming from Argentina and Uruguay.

Both countries have been willing to pay the tariff of €3.03/kg along with 12.8% of the product value to get over 4000 extra tonnes of beef into the EU market.

Prices across the water in Britain remain very steady with some processors increasing quotes this week by 5p/kg

NI Comment

Beef quotes in Northern Ireland this week remain steady with 652p/kg (€7.88/kg incl VAT) still on the table for in spec stock and a little more going to regular suppliers.