It has been a strange few weeks in the beef trade. Weekly kills have remained steady over the last few weeks at 35,000 head and many factory agents would suggest factory-fit cattle are in short supply with all sheds now empty and farmers waiting for grass cattle to come fit.
It has been a strange few weeks in the beef trade.
Weekly kills have remained steady over the last few weeks at 35,000 head and many factory agents would suggest factory-fit cattle are in short supply with all sheds now empty and farmers waiting for grass cattle to come fit.
The price has been creeping up over the past two months from a base of €3.40/kg in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic in March-April to €3.80/kg last week.
Factories have tried this week to apply some pressure. So, is this warranted or is it meat factories playing games to flush out cattle?
Last week, Joe Burke joined Jack Kennedy on the Irish Farmers Journal Farm Tech Talk to discuss the outlook for the beef trade this autumn.
Burke said: “We’ve seen a really good recovery in the beef market over the last few weeks. Demand is very strong and we’ve seen beef factories very active purchasing animals not only on farm but also through sales rings in marts, which is really positive.”
Autumn outlook
Speaking on the outlook for autumn, he said: “Any overhang of cattle from the COVID disruption is completely gone now and while we normally see a rise in kill numbers at this time of year with farmers off-loading cattle coming close to 30 months, the opposite is actually happening this year with the weekly kill contracting.
“A lot of factory-fit animals have been sold and looking at the AIMS database, numbers aren’t going to be as high for the autumn as they would normally be. We will likely see the kill sit around 35,000 per week for the next few weeks which is a positive from farmers’ point of view and gives them more selling power.”
UK market
Speaking about the UK market, Burke said: “The UK retail market has been the driving force behind Irish factories looking for cattle. If we look at the retail data up until the middle of June, there has been a 16% increase in volume sales compared to 2019 sales. We’ve also seen a high surge in the sales of burgers and grill products, up 45% in sales compared to 2019 sales. Steaks and mince have also seen an increase so it’s all positive.”
Loss of food service sales will affect the UK beef market and consumption will be down in 2020. As a consequence of this, the UK has reduced its beef imports by 12% so far in 2020. Burke said: “This is worrying and we need to find alternative markets for this beef. The UK beef industry is contracting though and the forecasts say that there will be a 5% reduction in finished UK cattle supplies in 2020.”
Tune into www.farmersjournal.ie for this week’s episode of Farm Tech Talks, which goes live at 8pm on Friday night.
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