The prices paid for cattle across Britain and Ireland has diverged significantly in recent weeks, creating the biggest gap in prices seen so far in 2026.
As shown in Figure 1, the prices paid for cattle have kicked on in Britain since the start of September and are up by around 40p/kg.
Over the same period, NI prices have increased by nearly 30p/kg, however, in the Republic of Ireland (ROI), the increase is closer to the sterling equivalent of 10p/kg.
In the week-ending 24 October, R3 steers in Britain averaged 655.7p/kg, which is nearly 26p ahead of NI and 88.7p/kg more than was paid in ROI.
Ahead
This time last year prices paid in ROI were on par with Britain and slightly ahead of NI and by the start of 2026, the difference was around the 20p/kg mark. For much of the year it has sat at around 40p/kg, before the big changes seen in recent weeks.
That is partly down to increased supplies, with October kills in ROI at their highest for the year to date, and over 9,000 head more than seen in the same week in 2025. Currency changes have also played a part, with the Euro now at a 20-month low against Sterling, having fallen from €1 = 86p to €1 = 83p over the last month.
The big price gap between ROI and Britain is also acting as a drag on the NI trade, although with NI having access to Red Tractor labelled product, there is still a significant advantage over what is being paid south of the Irish border.
However, the difference of 26p/kg in R3 steer prices towards the end of October, is the biggest seen so far this year. As shown in Figure 1, across the first eight months of 2026, this price gap was under 10p/kg.
