Finishers face three-week wait to get cattle killed

Beef finishers face a wait of at least three weeks to get cattle killed, with factories stretching out numbers on the back of poor sales.

Severe price cuts in recent weeks have inevitably forced more animals to the market, which is only adding to the problem.

Another 10p cut has been applied this week, leaving base factory quotes around the 584p/kg mark, with actual deals generally starting at 590p/kg for U-3 grade steers and heifers.

Where the price will actually be when cattle booked this week are finally killed, is very uncertain at this stage.

Factors

Slow sales are due to a combination of factors, with consumers cutting back on spending in response to a spike in energy costs and the continued rise in the amount of cheap beef from Australia and New Zealand coming into the British market (see page 28).

That has prompted the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) to warn of a ‘perfect storm’ with prices spiralling downwards, while imports surge.

According to UFU deputy president Clement Lynch, farmers now fear prices crashing towards the 500p/kg mark.

“Farmers are angry, frustrated and asking who is protecting local food production,” he said.

He pointed out that retailers, processors and governments all talk about supporting local food production, sustainability and family farming, but those words mean little when local farmers are being undercut by imports produced to very different standards.

The new UFU deputy president called on retailers to step up and support NI beef through in-store promotions and stronger commitments to local produce, adding that failure to act could have long-term consequences for the local suckler herd and domestic food security.

“If this continues unchecked, there is a genuine risk that family farms will begin questioning whether beef production has a future. Farmers deserve fair returns, market confidence and a level playing field, not uncertainty, collapsing prices and being sacrificed in trade deals,” said Lynch.