Winter finishers have been dealt another hammer blow this week, as processors pulled the rug out from under them with reduced quotes for finished cattle.

Factories had been trying to apply pressure to the beef trade and have succeed in their quest to buy cattle cheaper this week, with most factories dropping quotes by 5c/kg for Monday morning quotes.

Bullocks are now being bought at €5.15/kg, with €5.20/kg now being the exception, while heifers are being quoted at €5.20/kg, but €5.25/kg is a little easier to come by, as opposed to getting extra money for bullocks.

Factories continue to manage tighter numbers to precision with many operating at reduced capacity and shorter working weeks to take them through the period of reduced supplies.

Hit to quotes

Bulls have also taken a hit, with some factories reducing quotes to €5.20/kg for U grading bulls on Monday morning.

Quotes of €5.30/kg to €5.40/kg were still available last week for bulls, but agents have been quick to move to the lower quotes for this week’s purchases.

P and O grades are moving in the main from €4.90/kg to €5.00/kg and €5.00/kg to €5.10/kg respectively.

Young bulls

Under-16-month bulls have been left reeling, with a lot of spring-born bulls coming close to 16 months old over the next three months. They are being quoted from €5.15/kg to €5.20/kg on the grid excluding the in-spec QA bonus of 12c/kg.

Cow prices

Cows have also taken a dent to quotes, with prices down 5c to 10c/kg across the board based on quotes over the last two weeks.

U grading cows are trading anywhere from €4.90/kg to €5.00/kg, with plants most active for top-quality cows continuing to show a keen appetite for the right stock.

R grading cows are trading from €4.80/kg to €4.90/kg. O grading cows are at €4.60/kg to €4.70/kg, with P grading cows coming in at €4.40/kg to €4.50/kg.

The manufacturing trade continues to perform very strongly, with a number of bank holidays in May in the UK boosting demand.

Prices north of the border continue to be very steady, with U grading under-16-month young bulls coming into €6/kg last week.

Trade across the water in Britain also remains very firm, with good processor demand for a reducing supply of finished cattle.