Another 5c/kg has been removed from the base price for steers and heifers over the last week. Steers are being quoted a base of €3.90/kg in many plants, with heifers being offered a base quote of €4.00/kg. Small numbers continue to command a 5c/kg higher base, but this is confined to regular sellers or, in some plants, to producers handling Angus stock.

Bull prices have also slipped, with R grades trading on average from €3.80/kg to €3.85/kg, with U grades from €3.90/kg to €3.95/kg, with only small numbers securing a top price of €4.00/kg. Factories remain very focused on in-spec animals, with sluggish demand for bulls aged over 24 months and any lots killing below a fat score of 2+. Bulls less than 16 months and trading on the grid are selling, in general, from a base of €3.80/kg to €3.85/kg, with some plants paying the higher price for bulls delivering a carcase weight of less than 400kg.

Wide differential

The wide differential between prices paid to producers handling large numbers of cows and individual sellers is narrowing in some areas. Quotes for P+3 grading cows have fallen to €3.00/kg, with higher prices of €3.10/kg to €3.15/kg paid to regular sellers. A large contributor to cows putting pressure on the prime cattle kill is a higher than normal percentage of poor-quality cows being killed, with over 20% of the cow kill falling into the bracket of P= and P-, with a significant percentage of these killing at a light carcase weight and poorly covered.

Prices for these type of cows are ranging from €2.00/kg to €2.50/kg, with very poor-quality cows with a carcase weight falling well below 200kg selling from €1.30/kg to €1.60/kg.

O grading cows are trading from €3.20/kg to €3.30/kg on average, with R grades from €3.30/kg to €3.40/kg. Supplies of heavy R+ and U grading cows are tight and, as such, sellers are continuing to command a premium price.

Slower northern trade

There northern trade is slowly getting back to normal processing. Most plants are quoting a U-3 base of £3.52/kg to £3.56/kg. This is the equivalent of €3.98/kg to €4.02/kg at 88.6p to the euro and €4.21/kg to €4.23/kg including VAT at 5.4%. Producers trading at the top of the market are finding it difficult to rise to and exceed £3.60/kg.