A significant step change has taken place in quotes for beef cattle this week, with ABP lifting its prices to a base of 360p/kg. That is anything from 10p to 16p up on last week, depending which previous quotes you are considering. It is also 6p/kg to 8p/kg above the next best available quotes from other factories in Northern Ireland, and appears to signal some serious competition being mounted by ABP.

Cattle buyers for the other beef factory operators seem unsure of the reasoning behind the ABP move and there was no immediate advance this week to match the higher quotes. Any sustained campaign by ABP on offering premium prices must surely force others into higher quotes. With beef prices in NI running close to prices in the south of England, the gap between prices here and in the Republic of Ireland has widened to record levels.

Higher prices in NI are badly needed by beef producers, but it seems that this could put serious pressure on any processors here who don’t have substantial access to lower-priced cattle in the Republic of Ireland to balance their profit-making capacity. Recently, JW Galloway, Scotland’s largest red meat processor, announced losses of £3m for 2013, on a £300m turnover.