The beef price rises just keep on coming, with another 10c/kg in the market this week on the back of huge demand and tight supplies of finished cattle. Factory agents continue to scour the country looking for finished cattle.
The beef price rises just keep on coming, with another 10c/kg in the market this week on the back of huge demand and tight supplies of finished cattle.
Factory agents continue to scour the country looking for finished cattle.
Huge pressure is now on agents to fill weekly kills, with a few ‘bust-ups’ in a number of marts this week where buyers are falling out over cattle.
Agents are also looking to move cattle quickly once bought, with a few caught out on farmers taking a better price a few days later such is the speed at which the market is currently moving up at.
Bullocks are working off base prices of €6.25/kg to €6.30/kg, with heifers moving at €6.30/kg to €6.35/kg. There have been a few deals done this week at €6.40/kg base price to get bigger numbers over the line.
Flat prices of €6.80/kg are on the table for anybody, with a deal done this week at €7/kg for a large number of Aberdeen Angus heifers.
Industry insiders say that beef is flying off the shelves in the UK, with the supermarket discount chains leading the charge in terms of volumes.
The advice to farmers is to bargain hard and make sure to get a number of quotes before any deal is done. Factories are also willing to pay bonuses on overage cattle and out-of-spec cattle.
Cows
Top-quality cows are coming in close to prime beef prices, with some marts reporting a higher price being paid for young cows than prime heifers in the last few days.
O+ suckler cows are generally working off €5.60/kg to €5.70/kg, while O grading dairy cows are being bought at €5.50/kg to €5.60/kg, depending on the factory.
R grading cows are being quoted at €5.70/kg to €5.80/kg and higher money is available where numbers are involved.
P+3 cows are working off €5.40/kg to €5.50/kg, depending on weight, age and flesh.
Well-fleshed U grading cows continue to command top prices of €6.00/kg to €6.10/kg and over for young, fleshed heavy cows. Factory agents are paying the equivalent of €6.40/kg deadweight and over it in marts to secure top-quality fleshed cows.
Bulls
Under-24-month bulls are still working off €6.40/kg to €6.50/kg for U grading bulls and higher where larger numbers are involved.
Flat prices of €6.60/kg to €6.70/kg and over it is on the table for big numbers.
R grading bulls are at €6.10/kg to €6.20/kg, while O grading bulls are being bought at €5.90/kg to €6.00/kg.
Under-16-month bulls are working off a base price of €6.00/kg to €6.10/kg before any QA bonus or grid payments are added.
Quotes in England and Scotland have also kicked on in the last week, with Scottish quotes for R4L bullocks coming in at 620p to 630p/kg (€7.85/kg to €7.97/kg incl VAT).
IFA livestock chair Declan Hanrahan said: “The main driver of the trade is the UK, where beef prices rose by over 60c/kg since the beginning of the year and by almost 18c/kg in the past week, pushing beef prices to over €1/kg above our price.
“The strength of the UK market in particular shows the scope for further significant increases here and the opportunity for factories to return higher prices to farmers.
“Factories simply can’t get enough cattle to fill the demand and are freely doing deals 20c/kg and more above initial quotes to close out deals.”
NI comment
Tight supplies north of the border have resulted in base quotes rising 10p to 15p/kg on last week to 585p to 590p/kg (€7.40/kg to €7.47/kg) for U3 animals.
NI agents are scrambling for finished cattle. Deals have also been done at 595p/kg for full loads of bullocks and heifers.
Good-quality suckler ows have also moved up to 500p/kg (€6.02/kg incl VAT).
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