Factory appetite for cattle has not wavered, despite several weeks of high throughput.

If anything, some agents point to more bite in the trade this week, with plants anxious to retain throughout levels and willing to compete outside normal catchment areas to source additional stock.

Demand in the southeast

Demand is said to be particularly strong in the southeast, with numbers tighter and less pressure on farmers to move stock.

This has witnessed some plants which were trying to stick hard to a base of €3.75/kg for steers raise their offered price to €3.80/kg, while, at the top of the market, a base of €3.82/kg to €3.85/kg has been paid for choice lots to large-scale finishers.

A similar trend is evident for heifers with stock moving on a base of €3.90/kg in the main, although heifers trading in small numbers are still moving in cases at a base of €3.85/kg.

More bite for cows

There also appears to be more bite in the trade for cows, with this also reflected in a strong mart trade.

P+3 grading cows are selling in general from €3.10/kg to €3.20/kg, with prices in cases 5c/kg either side of the price range.

Fleshed O grading cows are trading from €3.25/kg to €3.35/kg, while R grades are selling to €3.50/kg in plants most active in the cow trade. These plants are also paying a top price of €3.60/kg to €3.65/kg for heavy well-finished U grading cows.

The bull trade

The bull trade is unchanged and, as with cows, there is significant variation between and even within plants, depending on the number of cattle on offer and the negotiating power of the seller.

R grading bulls are selling from €3.80/kg to €3.85/kg, while some have secured a flat price of €3.90/kg to €3.95/kg where traded as a small percentage of a larger offering comprising mainly U grade bulls.

At the top of the market, specialist finishers handling large numbers have secured €4.00/kg or slightly higher, while bulls less than 16 months and trading on the grid are selling on a base of €3.80/kg on average.

NI trade

Quotes in northern plants remain unchanged.

The lowest quotes reported are a U-3 base of £3.44/kg to £3.48/kg.

Sterling continues to strengthen slowly to the euro and at Monday evening’s rate of 87.9p, this equates to €4.12/kg to €4.17/kg, including VAT at 5.4%.

However, there are small numbers of cattle moving at this lower base, with most securing closer to £3.50/kg (€4.20/kg), while top prices are rising to £3.54/kg (€4.24/kg).

The LMC’s latest market bulletin shows the northern kill for the last 12-week period (68,679) running 7% or 4,556 head above the same period in 2016 on the back of higher numbers of slaughter for animals in the market.

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