Despite a short week with the bank holiday, the trend for factory prices continued upwards this week.

With Halloween upon us, factory focus will now turn to building stocks for the Christmas trade from the start of November.

Even the wet weather in many parts of the country over the past week couldn’t dampen the trade, with prices at marts often ahead of factory quotes particularly for cows.

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To understand the factories’ hunger for cattle, we need look no further than the weekly kill figures.

Last week, numbers were up slightly up on the previous week at 29,934 head, an increase of 1,793 on the previous week.

However, this figure is over 10,000 head down on the 39,934 that went to factories in the same week last year, which means factories are having to work hard to persuade farmers to sell to them.

The scale of the pressure on factories to source cattle is reflected even more dramatically by comparing the year-to-date cattle numbers with last year.

Up to last week, 1,327,333 head had been processed in Irish factories, which is 159,385 fewer than the 1,486,718 processed in the same period last year.

Prices

Against this background, it is no surprise that factory prices are continuing to edge up.

There hasn’t been as spectacular an increase in quotes as there was in previous weeks, but at least €7.50/kg is being offered for steers and up to €7.60/kg is being regularly secured.

For heifers, €7.60/kg is the starting point, with 10c/kg and even 20c/kg more being secured on occasion.

Given the current state of supply, farmers with numbers of in-spec cattle are in a strong negotiating position to do better and these quotes are a starting place for negotiations.

Flat-rate buying is also common, with €8/kg regularly mentioned as the going rate for a good batch of continental cattle.

Some factories, particularly those with UK supermarket trade, are more inclined to offer more on the grid, but flat-rate options are available.

R grading Aberdeen Angus heifers are getting up to €8.25/kg, with 30c/kg bonuses being paid for Aberdeen Angus sold on the grid and in-spec Herefords getting a 20c/kg bonus on the grid.

Young bulls are fewer in number this time of year, but where they are available, U grades are trading around €7.70/kg to €7.80/kg, with R grades making €7.50/kg to €7.60/kg and P grades making €7.40/kg to €7.50/kg.

Under-16-month young bulls are being quoted €7.30/kg to €7.50/kg on the grid.

Cows

The cow trade is arguably even more lively this week, with particularly strong demand for plainer cows.

P grading cows are starting at €7/kg, but €7.10/kg is readily available.

Good O+3 grading cows are easily getting €7.20/kg, while R grading cows are getting up to €7.40/kg.

Top-of-the-range U grading cows are few in number in the factories, but where they are, they are making at least €7.60/kg.

Marts are a real option in the cow trade at present, with reports suggesting that €8/kg would be needed in the factory to match mart prices for the best cows.

Northern trade

North of the border, it was very much a case of stand on this week, with the going rate quoted for U-3s ranging between £6.56/kg and £6.58/kg, which converts to between €7.83/kg and €7.86/kg when VAT is included.