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The beef trade unfortunately remains subdued, with factory activity a far cry from that seen before the Christmas break.
At that stage, agents were working hard to get their hands on as many cattle as possible, with plants utilising their maximum processing capacity.
In contrast, there has been a sharp drop in activity since the turn of the year, with agents closely monitoring and controlling numbers coming on hand.
Negative pressure on prices also remains a feature, with some plants trying to reduce base steer and heifer quotes to €3.95/kg and €4.05/kg respectively.
The success of this is variable, leaving deals mixed between a base of €3.95/kg and €4.00/kg for steers and a base of €4.05/kg to €4.10/kg for heifers.
Manufacturing beef
The bull and cow trade is steady, which tallies with stronger demand for manufacturing beef at this time of year.
P+3 grading cows are selling from €3.15/kg to €3.25/kg. Fleshed O grading Friesian cows start at €3.30/kg and rise to €3.40/kg to €3.45/kg where big numbers are involved.
Sellers with heavier O grading beef-bred cows are also securing prices at the higher end of the price range.
R grading cows are selling in general from €3.50/kg to €3.60/kg, with cow-specialist plants paying sellers handling large numbers 5c/kg higher, while U grades range from €3.60/kg to €3.70/kg.
Bulls
The top price for U grading bulls is €4.10/kg, falling back to €4.05/kg for sellers with less bargaining power, while R grades are selling in general for €4.00/kg, rising to €4.05/kg in flat-priced deals involving mainly U grading bulls. Bulls under 16 months and trading on the grid are selling on a base of €3.95/kg to €4.00/kg.
Some plants are implementing an upper weight limit of 400kg to 420kg to secure the higher price. This excludes the 12c/kg quality payment scheme (QPS) bonus for bulls hitting the required specification.
Northern trade
The northern trade is unchanged. A small number of buyers are trying to operate at a U-3 base of £3.48/kg to £3.50/kg.
At Monday evening’s sterling to euro exchange rate of 88.8p, this equates to €3.92/kg to €3.94/kg or €4.13/kg to €4.15/kg when VAT at 5.4% is included.
The majority of plants continue to work off a base of €3.52/kg to €3.56/kg (€4.18/kg to €4.35/kg including VAT), with regular sellers securing returns into the mid-£3.60s.
Cow prices are also unchanged, with a wide O grading range of £2.60/kg to £2.80/kg (€3.08/kg to €3.33/kg), with sellers competing at the top of the market securing 10p/kg or even more extra.
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