A number of agents report factory appetite for cattle being marginally more optimistic this week. Throughput typically increases in November as factories fill orders for the Christmas trade.

It is a small positive, but given the backlog that has developed, any chink of light would be widely welcomed at this stage.

However, even with increased appetite, it is likely that any increase will be limited to in the region of 1,000 to 1,500 head above recent weeks' levels.

A best-case scenario would be repeating 2018 throughput performance and increasing the kill to 40,000 head. This was the level factories were comfortable of handling for a five-week period spanning into the first week of December.

The focus very much remains on the cattle factories desire most – steers and heifers under 30 months and delivering carcase weights under 400kg to 420kg.

Producers with cattle aged over 30 months or likely to kill into weights significantly in excess of 400kg continue to face delays in getting cattle moved.

Quotes

Quotes are largely unchanged. The average base quote for steers is €3.45/kg, with heifers on a base of €3.50/kg.

Some plants continue to try to bring heifers back to a base of €3.45/kg, while Liffey Meats is reported as quoting a base of €3.55/kg for heifers.

Cow and young bull prices are static. Cows can be best summarised as €2.60/kg to €2.65/kg for P+3 grades, €2.80/kg to €2.85/kg for O grades and €3.00/kg to €3.05/kg for R grades.

There is some small variance around prices paid to dealers and finishers handling larger numbers of cows.

Bulls

Bulls are trading in the main from €3.40/kg to €3.45/kg for R grades, with U grades ranging from €3.50/kg to €3.55/kg.

O grades are meeting a wider differential, with prices ranging from €3.15/kg to €3.30/kg.

Bulls less than 16 months and trading on the grid are selling on a base of €3.40/kg to €3.45/kg.

As mentioned last week, it is important to clarify carcase weight limits before moving stock.

Tighter NI supplies

A tightening in supplies in Northern Ireland is slowly adding more life to the trade.

Quotes have increased from a range of £3.12/kg to £3.20/kg (€3.62/kg to €3.71/kg excl VAT) a week to 10 days ago to £3.16/kg to £3.20/kg this week, with plants trying to limit upward movement at higher prices.

Producers with greater negotiating power are exceeding the £3.20/kg mark, with top returns rising to £3.22/kg to £3.24/kg for steers and £3.28/kg to in excess of £3.30/kg for heifers.

LMC’s latest market bulletin highlights APHIS numbers to show the extent of tighter supplies. There were 78,861 beef-sired males in the 18- to 24-month age bracket on farms in October 2019, a decrease of 6.2% year on year.

Beef-sired females at 95,536 were 5.4% lower, while dairy-sired males at 10,227 head were 6.6% lower.

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