When Adam Woods reported from his travels in Japan this week that he found an Irish tomahawk selling for the equivalent of €200/kg, it caused plenty of people to question if there is a problem in the beef trade.

While this is a spectacular price, unfortunately it is the exception rather the rule for beef prices, even for steak meat, which is the most expensive part of the carcase.

Calculating the value

One of the elements that make up this spectacular price for Irish steak meat is the tariff.

Prior to 1 February, imports of Irish beef into Japan carried a tariff of 38.5%.

Following the introduction of the free trade deal, this will decline to 9% after 15 years, which means Irish beef is still paying one third of its value as an import tariff on entering the Japanese market.

Another feature of what sets the price to the consumer is the location in which it is sold.

As in Ireland, upmarket catering and retail establishments carry a premium price in themselves and it is the same in Tokyo.

Typically, these locations will sell relatively low volumes of high-value product.

Carcase breakdown

Aside from tariffs and location, steak meat is in its own right the highest value part of the carcase, irrespective of what market it is sold in.

For example, in Tesco Ireland, Angus striploin steak is retailing at €26.49/kg, while standard mince is retailing at just 20% of that value on €5.54/kg.

The other point to note is that half the carcase approximately retails as manufacturing type beef, which is a combination of mince, burgers and some diced or stirfry beef out of some of the more tender muscles.

The relative value of different parts of the beef carcase is determined by the eating quality or desirability of a particular cut and the proportion of it on a carcase.

Steak meat is the most desirable because it is tender, but it also makes up a small part of the carcase.

In the example in Figure 1, the Irish Farmers Journal and Bord Bia cut up and weighed the cuts from an U=3+ carcase in Slaney Meats.

The total carcase weighed 324.6kg and out of that there was 15.92kg of striploin and 5.76kg of fillet, the most expensive cuts.

On the other hand, there was 41.77kg of 95vl, 85vl and 70vl combined, all of which would be used for minced beef or burgers.