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The beef trade is solid with most cattle moving at a base of €4.05/kg for steers and €4.15/kg for heifers. Some agents describe the trade as being a little firmer which has seen those trying to offer a 5c/kg lower base having to revert quotes upwards.
It is also means that finishers with large numbers of cattle are having good success in negotiating a base of €4.08/kg to €4.10/kg for steers and €4.18/kg to €4.20/kg for heifers, or allowances on transport costs.
The firm trade for steers and heifers is also present for cows and bulls. Cows are trading in the main for €3.20/kg to €3.25/kg for P+3 grades, €3.30/kg to €3.35/kg for Os and €3.45/kg to €3.50/kg for Rs.
Those with greater selling power continue to achieve higher prices in plants specialising in the cow trade.
Bulls are selling mainly from €4.00/kg to €4.05/kg for R grades with U grades selling from €4.10/kg to €4.15/kg.
Bulls less than 16 months and selling on the Quality Payment Scheme (QPS) grid are trading on a base of €4.00/kg to €4.05/kg with the higher price tending to come with a tighter carcase weight limit of 400kg to 420kg. This excludes the 12c/kg QPS bonus where applicable.
Reduced NI activity
This week’s throughput is likely to be reduced in Northern Ireland due to lower holiday-related purchasing activity.
A significant level of trading is already complete for cattle moving this week with prices unchanged. The U-3 base quote for steers and heifers ranges from £3.60/kg to £3.62/kg and with the exchange rate also unchanged at 87.8p to the euro, this translates to €4.32/kg to €4.35/kg including VAT at 5.4%.
Quotes for O grading cows average £2.70/kg (€3.24/kg) with R grades 10p/kg to 15p/kg higher with finishers with large numbers remaining in a good position in negotiations.
Mid-year throughput
The beef kill for the first six months of 2017, at 836,686 head, is running 39,041 head above the corresponding period in 2016.
The greatest difference is in cows with 19,596 extra head processed. Steers are close behind with an extra 17,205 head passing through factory gates while the heifer kill is up 9,047. An increasing number of Jersey and crossbred calves in reflected in the number of young calves processed rising from 2,196 head in 2016 to 5,212 in 2017.
Bulls on the other hand have recorded a reduction in throughput with 8,596 fewer young handled, while there are 1,156 fewer bulls killed in the year to date.
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